Colombia would suspend extradition of ELN leaders in Cuba if peace is negotiated

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Colombian government asserted this Tuesday, May 11, that the extradition orders of the ELN guerrilla chiefs in Havana would be suspended if a peace process is started, which the government conditions upon the group releasing those it kidnapped, and ceasing the recruitment of minors.

“The extradition and arrest warrants are active, of course, because the judges request them, but according to the law of public order, these orders can be suspended if there is a peace process,” said the high commissioner for peace, Miguel Ceballos, to journalists.

Bilateral relations between Colombia and Cuba have been strained following the island’s refusal to extradite four members of the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group who remain in Havana after the failed peace talks with the government.

Colombia requested their extradition following the guerrilla attack on a police academy in Bogotá two years ago that left 22 cadets dead.

APPROACHES WITH THE ELN

The high official revealed on Sunday that Colombia continues to seek conditions to reactivate the peace talks with the ELN. Still, so far, the armed group has made no progress in fulfilling the conditions imposed by President Iván Duque.

With the endorsement of the Holy See, through the Apostolic Nuncio, Monsignor Luis Mariano Montemayor, the United Nations, and the Mission to Support the Peace Process of the Organization of American States (OAS), Colombia has verified in the last 17 months “the real will for peace and reintegration into civilian life” of the guerrillas.

“There were four trips to Havana, Cuba, and at this moment the ELN must tell the country if it wants to advance in a space for dialogue and I say this because the conditions are clear: no more kidnappings, no more recruitment of minors and no more anti-personnel mines,” Ceballos said today.

The high commissioner for peace affirmed that, for example, a “gesture” that demonstrates the guerrillas’ willingness to negotiate would be “the immediate release of Tulio Mosquera Asprilla,” a Liberal Party candidate for mayor of the municipality of Alto Baudó, in the jungle department of Chocó (west), who was kidnapped in September 2019.

“He is kidnapped by the ELN’s Western Front in Chocó, and according to information we have, from very valid sources, alias ‘Fabián’ does not want to release him; he wants to demand 3 billion pesos (about $800,000). Could it be that Colombia’s peace is subject to the payment of a kidnapping? The ELN has the floor,” he added.

Finally, Ceballos expressed that “Pope Francis and the Secretary General of the United Nations”, Antonio Guterres, have supported “this indirect exploration and we hope that if there is willingness, we can move forward”.

The ELN initiated in February 2017 in Quito peace negotiations with the former Colombian government that in May 2018 were transferred to Havana, where the last round of dialogue concluded without progress in early August of the same year.