After 3:00 in the afternoon, the dialogue table with which the Colombian Government and the guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional)ELN) will resume peace negotiations. The official meeting takes place at the Humboldt Hotel in Caracas, Venezuela, this Monday, November 21, and is consolidated as one of the first steps to achieve total peace for the administration of Gustavo Petro.
After the first 100 days of the Government, the president managed to materialize the restart of the dialogue table with the Colombian guerrillas. The head of state is the seventh to attempt a peace process with the ELNsince in January 2019 it was suspended —during the mandate of Iván Duque— after the guerrilla attack against the General Francisco de Paula Santander Cadet Schoolwhich left a balance of 22 dead and 68 wounded.
The general Carlos Martinez Mendozarepresenting the Venezuelan regime, applauded the restart of the dialogues that will take place in the border country.
The President of the Bolivarian Republic of VenezuelaNicolás Maduro, and the Bolivarian people greet with hope the peace talks between the Government of Colombia and the National Liberation Army,” the official said.
Martínez stressed that they will support all initiatives “that lead to the long-awaited total peace in Colombia. Likewise, he welcomed the delegations of the governments of Cuba and Norway, which are also guarantor countries of the peace process together with Venezuela. “Long live peace in Colombia!” He added.
For their part, the other guarantor countries also presented a statement in which they thanked the trust granted and noted that it is an “important step to achieve peace in Colombia.”
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“Peace is our dream, change is our path.” Thus began the joint declaration of the delegation of paz of the ELN and the Government of Colombia in their commitment to seek solutions to the conflict in which the guerrillas have been a part. Following this, they read the objectives behind the reinstatement of the dialogue table.
In the first place, they highlighted that the process of political dialogue has been a requirement of various sectors of society. “The people of the rural and urban territories who suffer from violence and exclusion”, read a spokeswoman during the meeting. Later, she pointed out that these sectors will be prioritized so that “Colombia is a power of human life.”
“Build peace from a democracy with justice and with tangible, urgent and necessary changes that this table agrees on”, they detailed as a third objective in the joint declaration. On the other hand, they stated that the peace policy becomes timeless so that “sow the certainty of a new culture of peacefounded on real changes, which allow the overcoming of political violence and its causes”.
The importance of the environment was also highlighted during the official meeting: “Respect for all forms of life and their dignity,” the spokesperson read in the document. In this dialogue and negotiation we are aware of the need to respond to the various dimensions of collective life”.
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