The two sides agreed to extend a landmark agreement reached in August last year that expired last week.
Colombia agreed with the National Liberation Army (ELN) to extend a historic truce agreement that expired last week.
The Caracas government said Tuesday it had agreed with Colombia's largest remaining armed rebel group to extend the suspension of the conflict for six months. The agreement offers more hope of ending decades of violence.
President Gustavo Petro signed an agreement with the ELN in August of last year for a 180-day cessation of fighting after long negotiations. The truce was extended five days after it expired last week.
The parties issued separate statements early Tuesday announcing a new six-month extension.
EXTENSION OF THE BILATERAL, NATIONAL AND TEMPORARY CEASE-FIRE
We have agreed to extend, starting at 00:00 hours on February 6, 2024, for one hundred and eighty (180) days, the Bilateral, National and Temporary Ceasefire (CFBNT).
🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/7ELXbEkOR5— ELN Delegation (@DelegacionEln) February 6, 2024
Translation: EXTENSION OF THE BILATERAL, NATIONAL AND TEMPORARY CEASE FIRE
We have agreed to extend, starting at 00:00 [05:00 GMT] On February 6, 2024, for one hundred and eighty (180) days, the Bilateral, National and Temporary Ceasefire (CFBNT).
Government support to replace kidnapping?
Colombia has suffered more than half a century of conflict between the government and various armed groups on the left and right, as well as drug traffickers.
The ELN began in 1964 as a left-wing ideological movement made up of students, union leaders and priests inspired by the Cuban revolution. It is believed to have around 4,000 fighters in Colombia and is also present in Venezuela, where it manages illegal gold mines and drug trafficking routes.
He is also known for organizing kidnappings for ransom and attacks on oil infrastructure. The United States and the European Union have classified it as a “terrorist” organization.
Under the agreement, the ELN agreed to suspend kidnappings, prompting it to request financial support from the government to replace lost income.
The armed group said it will “unilaterally and temporarily suspend economic detentions, a commitment that will be followed by the Monitoring and Verification Mechanism.”
A long road to truce
In 2016, a peace agreement dissolved the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC. That made the ELN the largest remaining rebel group in the country. It has since increased its activities in territories previously under FARC control.
In 2019, peace talks with the ELN were canceled by former conservative president Iván Duque after a car bomb attack on a police academy in Bogotá that killed 22 people.
Talks between Bogotá and the ELN were reactivated in November 2022 in neighboring Venezuela. Several rounds of peace talks followed, with the process supported by Mexico, Norway, Venezuela, Cuba, Brazil and Chile as guarantors.
