Agreement for the return of indigenous displaced persons to their territories
Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced on Saturday the conclusion of an agreement between his government and the ELN for the return of indigenous displaced persons to their territories, in the western part of the country, the first since peace negotiations between his government and the rebel group resumed.
"The first thing on which we reached an agreement with the ELN, before a week has passed since the start of the negotiations, is to allow the return of the populations displaced by this organization" to their territories, said the president, the first from the left in Colombia's history, during an official event in Dabeiba (northwest).
He did not specify the date of return of the indigenous people, who had left the territories they legally occupied in the Choco (northwest) and Risaralda (centerwest) regions because of clashes between drug traffickers, right-wing paramilitary groups and fighters of the National Liberation Army (ELN), officially the last guerrilla organization continuing the armed struggle in Colombia.
The negotiations with the ELN, which were suspended in 2019 by the previous government following an attack on a police school that left 22 people dead, resumed by order of President Petro, who took power in August.
Delegations of the government and the ELN started the new talks on November 21 in Venezuela.
This agreement is expected to benefit a community that has been occupying several parks in Bogota since late 2020 in protest, resulting in violent clashes with the police.
To date, the government and the ELN have not agreed to a mutual ceasefire, but in October they decided to pick up where the negotiations had left off, in other words for the talks to build on "all the agreements and progress secured since the signing of the agenda on 30 March 2016". In recent weeks, the parties have made "confidence-building" gestures, moving respectively to release prisoners and hostages and reduce operations in the field.
According to the authorities and an independent think tank, the ELN now has 2,500 fighters, up from about 1,800 when negotiations with the then government began.
The ELN, founded in 1964 by radicalized Roman Catholic priests, students and workers inspired by the actions of Che Guevara and the revolution in Cuba, is officially described as the last rebel organization to continue the armed struggle in Colombia after the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) signed a peace agreement with the then government in 2016.
Source: CNA
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