Colombia: The ELN denies having agreed to a ceasefire

The guerrilla of the National Liberation Army (ELN) has affirmed this Tuesday that the delegation that is negotiating with the Government of Colombia “has not discussed” any proposal for a bilateral ceasefire and therefore “there is still no agreement on that matter.”

“On various occasions we have pointed out that the ELN only complies with what is discussed and agreed upon at the dialogue table where we participate. A unilateral government decree cannot be accepted as an agreement,” the terrorist group explained in a statement signed on January 1, but released this Tuesday.

The ELN has indicated that after the end of the first round of negotiations in Venezuela on December 12, “it was only agreed” on what was announced with regard to institutionalizing the dialogue table and making a series of adjustments to the agenda that must be consulted. both by the president, Gustavo Petro, and by the central command of the guerrilla.

In this sense, it has advanced that in the next round of dialogue that will take place in Mexico, it was agreed to finalize the adjustments of the agenda and once the planned is concluded, the proposal for a bilateral ceasefire will be discussed “to examine the terms that make an agreement possible.”

“We understand the government decree as a proposal to be examined in the next cycle,” the ELN has assessed, thus breaking with President Petro’s December 31 announcement that his government had reached a bilateral ceasefire both with this guerrilla as well as with four other armed groups.

With information from Gaceta de la Iberosfera