The delegations of the Colombian Government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) announced Thursday the decision to extend until June 8 the third cycle of peace negotiations, which have been taking place in Cuba since last May.
Both parties issued a joint communiqué in which they pointed out that the Dialogue Table is advancing “positively in its work”.
Due to “the importance of the issues on the agenda”, it has been decided to extend the current cycle of talks.
The Government and the ELN thanked “the people and the Government of the Republic of Cuba” and the rest of the guarantor countries and those accompanying the process for “their invaluable support to the construction of peace in Colombia”.
So far, according to the parties, progress has been made on participation and cease-fire, two of the fundamental issues of the negotiation, although the humanitarian aspect remains to be addressed.
Dialogue with the ELN began in March 2016 with the administration of Juan Manuel Santos.
After four cycles of negotiations in Quito, the talks moved to Cuba after the Ecuadorian government withdrew from the process.
The talks were suspended in January 2019 by then-Colombian President Iván Duque following a rebel attack against a police school in Bogotá.
The government of Gustavo Petro opened a second round of negotiations with the ELN in Mexico last February, and since May 2, the third round has been in session in Havana.
Cuba hosted, in 2016, the signing of a peace and political reintegration agreement between the Santos government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) after a long negotiation in the Cuban capital.
With information from Xinhua
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