JAKARTA - Negotiators from the Colombian government and the left guerrilla group of the National Liberation Army (ELN) started peace talks on Monday, the first major step in President Gustavo Petro's efforts to end nearly 60 years of war.
President Petro, who took office last August, a former M-19 rebel member, has pledged to bring "total peace" to Colombia, negotiating with rebels and criminal groups involved in drug trafficking to illegal mining.
"We cannot see each other as enemies, the work we have is reconciliation," said ELN negotiator Pablo Beltran.
"We hope not to disappoint expectations for this change," he continued.
Talks, which began in Venezuela's capital, Caracas, will take turns among Venezuelan, Cuban, and Norwegian guarantor countries, according to the Colombian government.
"We are committed to talking to organizations that also want peace," said government chief negotiator Onty Patino.
"We will reach a safe port, true peace," he assured.
The delegation held their first meeting on Monday, said Colombia's high commissioner of peace Danilo Rueda.
Previous negotiating efforts with ELN, which has about 2,400 fighters and was founded in 1964, were not successful in part because of differences of opinion within its staff.
Leaders say the group is united, but it's unclear how much influence negotiators have on active units. Most of ELN's negotiating teams are older than many of its members.
However, negotiations did not mean a suspension of military operations against rebels, Colombian Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez said Monday morning.
Talks between ELN and government Juan Manuel Santos began in 2017 in Ecuador, then moved to Cuba, but were canceled in 2019 by Santos' successor, Ivan Duque, as ELN refused to stop hostilities and killed 22 police cadets in an attack. bombing.
It is known that President Petro had previously promised to fully implement the 2016 peace agreement, with the now demobilized Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) rebels. More than 450,000 people have died in six decades of Colombia's internal conflict.
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