2023-08-01 00:48:48
On August 3, the bilateral ceasefire agreed upon by the government of President Gustavo Petro and the ELN guerrillas will come into force, in the midst of the peace negotiations that they have been advancing since 2022.
As on that same date the National Participation Committee will be installed in Corferias (Bogotá), several commanders of the guerrilla group arrived in the country’s capital with a strong security device that the Petro Government ordered for the permanence of the guerrillas in the city.
#At this time The Heads of the ELN Dialogue Delegation give their first statements in Bogotá. Commander Pablo Beltrán answers the first concerns regarding what will be the Installation of the National Participation Committee and the start of the Cease Fire.#Paz #ELN pic.twitter.com/ZYabgn9aNZ
– ELN Delegation (@DelegacionEln) July 31, 2023
Members of the National Protection Unit (UNP) are in charge of providing security to Pablo Beltrán, Aureliano Carbonell, Bernardo Téllez and other members of the delegation who arrived in Bogotá, following being in various regions of the country where they socialized with their structures on operation of the bilateral ceasefire.
“The National Participation Committee is a special and transitory instance, articulated to the Peace Dialogues Table, which will play a fundamental role as the body in charge of designing and promoting the participation of society in the peace process,” says a statement. set that was published this July 31st.
Aureliano Carbonell and Pablo Beltrán, ELN peace negotiators. | Photo: Dialogue Table between the National Government of Colombia and the National Liberation Army – ELN
Precisely on Thursday, August 3, with the presence of President Gustavo Petro, the names of those who will integrate that National Committee will be announced and the mechanism will enter into force that will last 180 days with the option of extension. During the stay of the guerrillas in Bogota, the UNP will be in charge of their security.
Antonio García is the top commander of the ELN. | Photo: afp
Antonio García, top commander of the ELN, orders all its structures to suspend attacks once morest the Military Forces: “The ceasefire will last 180 days”
Everything is ready for the bilateral ceasefire between the government of President Gustavo Petro and the ELN guerrillas to begin on August 3rd.
Antonio García, commander of the ELN, published a video in which he gives the instruction to suspend the offensive attacks on all the structures of that guerrilla in order to comply with the agreement between the parties.
“The Central Command of the National Liberation Army orders all its structures to suspend offensive operations once morest the Armed Forces, the Police and the security agencies of the Colombian State,” García says in the video.
Likewise, García explained that if an incident occurs during the bilateral ceasefire, each front must report it to the central command so that the verification process can be carried out before the monitoring mechanism that is going to be installed.
In the photo, President Gustavo Petro (left); the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel (center), and the first commander of the ELN, Antonio García, following signing the ceasefire. | Photo: afp
“We call on all the commanders and combatants of the National Liberation Army (ELN) to rigorously comply with this agreed ceasefire, in addition to keeping the entire defense system in place to protect and preserve the security and integrity of the force, as well as their territories,” the document added.
He added: “The National Directorate will be in charge of guiding the way to deal with and resolve such incidents, seeking to coordinate the structures involved with the support of the agreed Monitoring and Verification Mechanisms.”
ELN guerrillas. | Photo: AFP
This Thursday, August 3, the delegations of the national government and the ELN will set up in Corferias, Bogotá, the National Participation Committee, a body agreed upon in the dialogues with that guerrilla group to collect proposals from civil society on changes and transformations for peace.
With the installation of the Committee and the beginning of the ceasefire, a decisive phase of the peace process with this guerrilla begins.
On the night of Wednesday, July 5, the President of the Republic, Gustavo Petro, signed Decree 1117 of 2023, through which it is ordered to declare a ceasefire with the ELN guerrilla with which a negotiation of peace.
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