MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

ELN announces one-month truce starting Thursday

ELN members must be prepared to “respond to threats or attacks from any armed group against our units or against the civilian population”

Colombia's National Liberation Army (ELN) ordered its forces to stop “offensive military actions” as of July 6, it was reported Tuesday in Bogotá. In a message posted on the rebel group's website, its members were advised to be prepared to “respond to threats or attacks by any armed group against our units or against the civilian population.”

The ELN ordered all its structures to “cease all offensive military actions against military and police forces throughout the national territory. The regulation includes intelligence actions” as of Thursday, marking the beginning of the one-month ceasefire agreed upon with President Gustavo Petro's administration.

The decision is part of the truce agreed on June 9 at the negotiating table in Havana, which the guerrillas and the Executive are carrying out in search of a definitive peace agreement.

The posting also asks ELN members to be prepared to “respond to threats or attacks from any armed group against our units or against the civilian population.”

The ELN also announced that its “peace agency” was from now on “enabled as a communication link between the national government” and the organization to “inform on new developments that may occur related to the ceasefire.”

A communiqué from the guerrilla Central Command states that “from midnight on July 6 until midnight on August 3, 2023, the structures of the National Liberation Army must cease all offensive military actions against the Military and Police Forces throughout the national territory, including intelligence actions.”

In August 2022, as soon as Petro took office, a delegation headed by Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva visited Cuba and announced the resumption of negotiations with the ELN. Since then, there have been three rounds of negotiations, and from August 14 to September 4, the fourth will be held in Caracas. Cuba, Norway, and Venezuela have been ratified as guarantor countries for these new rounds of peace talks, while Brazil, Chile, and Mexico have joined the process and Germany, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland are participating as accompanying countries.