The journalists Mábel Lara and María Jimena Duzán will arrive at the dialogue table with the ELN

“Removing testosterone from the political discussion”, was the criticism made by the Minister of Culture, Patricia Ariza, regarding the absence of women at the dialogue table of the Government with the ELN guerrilla in Venezuela. This Friday the Government responded to the suggestion and announced that four womentwo of them journalists, will come to the peace talk.

“In order to broaden the participation of women in the Peace Dialogue Table with the ELN, the national government has decided incorporate four more women into its negotiating team”, said the Office of the High Commissioner for Peace in a statement.

The women who will integrate the tables are the journalists Mábel Lara and María Jimena Duzán, The lawyer Nigeria Renteria and the Presbyterian pastor, Adelaide Jimenez.

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At the moment it is known that women They will make up the negotiating team of the Colombian Government. María Jimena Duzán is, perhaps, the most recognized character of these appointments: the journalist was a victim of violence when paramilitaries murdered her sister, Silvia Duzán, in 1990.

These appointments occurred 24 hours following the Minister of Culture, Patricia Ariza, demanded more female voices at the negotiating table with the oldest active guerrilla on the continent.

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“It is propitious that the government delegation in the negotiation with the ELN is equal and to integrate human rights defenders and social leaders, these women knew that they have known how to build peace in the territories”, said Ariza.

Before the four appointments, the board was made up of only 33% women. On the government side are Maria Jose Pizarro (Senator), Dayana Paola Urzola Domicó (leader Embera Katio), Olga Lilia Silva Lopez (human rights defender) and Rosmery Quintero (representative of the productive sector).

With the four appointments, 50% of the government’s negotiators will be women.

On the part of the ELN they are Violeta Arango Ramírez, María Consuelo Tapias and Silvana Guerrero (Basic education graduate and engineer who has been part of the armed group for more than 20 years).