Colombia’s top peace official and a representative of guerrilla group ELN announced the resumption of formal peace talks on Wednesday.
At a press conference in Venezuela’s capital Caracas, Peace Commissioner Danilo Rueda and ELN representatives said that the talks that were suspended in 2018 will resume in November.
On behalf of the guerrillas, ELN commanders “Alvaro Garcia” and “Pablo Beltran” took part in the formal announcement.
Raul Rosende of the UN mission in Colombia was also present, as well as representatives of guarantor countries Norway, Cuba and Venezuela.
The negotiators said that the resumed negotiations will follow the agenda of the peace talks that was agreed between former President Juan Manuel Santos and the ELN in 2017.
This implies that the government and guerrilla negotiators will continue talking about the participation of citizens in the peace talks and a possible peace process.
What will change is that the talks will not continue in Cuba, but rotate between all guarantor countries.
Where the talks will resume and how this rotation system will work was not announced.
Another pending issue is the formation of the negotiation teams.
These specifics are expected to be announced in a matter of days.
The peace talks formally started in 2017 after years of secret negotiations between Colombia’s longest-living rebel group and the Santos administration.
Former President Ivan Duque suspended the talks after taking office in 2018.
President Gustavo Petro, who took office in August, has said that the negotiations may include a preliminary ceasefire agreement.
Such a ceasefire would also require negotiations about the monitoring of compliance, however.
