peace dialogue carried out by the Colombian Government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas. endangered later this wednesday That guerrilla attack in the Catatumbo area that killed nine soldiers and left nine more wounded.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s pre-attack with exploding rifles and explosives was to call for consultations with the government delegation negotiating with the ELN. “I have summoned the government delegation to the ELN desk, the guarantor and their accompanying countries for consultation. A peace process must be serious and responsible for Colombian society,” the president wrote on his Twitter account. The Presidency said that this call “does not mean a freeze of dialogues” and that the Government will “pull off the table”, but next Monday “with negotiators and guarantor countries, with negotiators and guarantor countries, the facts are final”.
The military reported that the attack occurred against soldiers of the Special Energy and Road Battalion No. 10, which were to be patrolling in Guamalito, a hamlet in the municipality of El Carmen in the Norte de Santander region. oil infrastructure, the target of infinity of ELN attacks. In the attack, a second corporal, a third corporal and 7 privates, who were doing their compulsory military service, died among young people aged 18-25. Regarding the wounded soldiers, Marta Isabel Pérez, scientific director of the Duarte de Cúcuta Medical Clinic, said that eight of the patients are “recovering, and one of them has a maintained prognosis.”
Petro blamed the attack on “those who are absolutely far from peace and the people today”, without referring to the ELN, but implying that. the attack could have consequences at the dialogue table. Defense Minister Iván Velásquez told the press that the attack was an act that “contributes little to peace”.
no ceasefire
The ELN has carried out other attacks on public forces in Catatumbo and the Arauca region since returning to talks with the government in November, but today’s attack is the most serious.
Peace talks are held at a traveling table that passes through Caracas, Mexico, and is expected to settle in Havana after Easter if nothing changes.
Despite the insistence of the government, these negotiations ceasefire not acceptedAccording to the High Commissioner, it is one of the most notable points on the Mexico tour, which is nothing more than an “architecture” to achieve a “dual interruption of national character with the possibility of extension”. For peace, Danilo Wheel. “Continuation of violence benefits the interests of the conflict. The ELN is not listening to the people: communities in Colombia want peace with social justice and brothers stop seeing themselves as enemies,” the Alto Office said in a statement. Commissioner.
On the other hand, Otty Patiño, head of the Colombian government’s delegation for peace talks with the ELN, assured that he would demand a ceasefire with the guerrillas to move forward at other points in the negotiations. “My position at the meeting with the President on Monday will be to advance the participation of civil society in this process and make the demand for ceasefire and hostility a priority as a necessary condition for its development in areas where urgent assistance is needed. Patiño said in a statement that the ELN can intervene in humanitarian action and dynamics. or that it might affect them.
In addition to these attacks, the government’s chief negotiator, guerrillas harassed the civilian population “By blatantly violating the norms of International Humanitarian Law”, which the shaken departments of Cauca, Arauca, Chocó and Nariño claim to abide by. “This undermines public confidence in the ELN’s desire for peace and profoundly undermines the sincerity of the negotiations and the implementation of the agreements.”
widespread rejection
Different political parties, including Interior Minister Alfonso Prada, condemned the attack. attack when there is no real will for peace”.
Senator Iván Cepeda, one of the government’s negotiators and chairman of the Peace Commission, assured us that “we cannot advance the peace neither by explosive attacks on soldiers nor by the detonation of oil pipelines by the ELN”. The UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy to Colombia, Carlos Ruiz Massieu, also joined the voices of condemnation and said: “All manifestations of violence undermine peace consolidation efforts.”