Colombia’s Santos Orders Peace Talks with FARC Accelerated, Invites ELN to Begin Dialogue

Colombia’s Santos Orders Peace Talks with FARC Accelerated, Invites ELN to Begin Dialogue
Fecha de publicación: 
6 January 2015
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“The government’s negotiating team is going to return to Havana very soon with the mandate – with instructions – to accelerate the pace of these talks, of these negotiations, to conclude them as soon as possible and once and for all end this armed conflict,” said Santos after a meeting with his peace advisers in the northern city of Cartagena.

The president said that the unilateral and open-ended cease-fire declared by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which began on Dec. 20, had been complied with, adding that the situation facilitates the conditions for accelerating the dialogue with the guerrilla group.

Santos said that the FARC’s commitment to abide by its cease-fire is a sign of the progress in the peace talks, which have been under way since November 2012 in the Cuban capital, and he added that the circumstances suggest that there may be a change in the site of the negotiations.

For that reason, he added, “we must move more quickly to seek the road of peace and not the road of war.”

However, Santos reaffirmed his stance that “peace must strengthen the security of Colombians, not weaken it,” an apparent reference to the refusal of the government to accept the bilateral cease-fire the rebels have requested and have asked Colombian political and social sectors, mainly on the left of the political spectrum, to support.

Regarding the ELN, the president repeated his invitation to begin – as soon as possible – a peace dialogue with the government.

“We want to invite the ELN to join the initiative of the unilateral cease-fire, as the FARC did, and also to come to an agreement as soon as possible about the points of the agenda that we’ve been discussing for some time,” he said.

The government and the ELN announced last June that they were engaging in “exploratory” discussions regarding peace talks but since then there have been no reports of any progress.

However, on Dec. 29, the ELN published on its Web page a statement saying that it would make a “special announcement” on Jan. 7, although it provided no further details on the matter.

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