ELN Commander: Peace Talks with Colombian Gov't on the Horizon

Nicolas Rodriguez Bautista, commander of Colombian's second-largest guerrilla army, said a formal deal with the Colombian government to begin peace talks is nearly complete and an announcement could come within days. 

"I can confirm that today we need 3 percent (to start peace negotiations). I continue to reaffirm my optimism and hope that the National Liberation Army and the Colombian government will have good news for society in the coming days," Rodriguez, better know by his alias Gabino, told Capital Channel. 

The Colombian government has held exploratory talks with the National Liberation Army, known as the ELN, for the past 15 months with the aim of securing a formal deal that would begin the next phase in peace negotiations. 

Peace talks between the ELN and the Colombian government are expected to take place in neighboring Ecuador.

This is a process similar to that employed to begin peace talks with the country's largest guerrilla army, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC. The government has been negotiating with the FARC since 2012 in Havana, Cuba. 

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Leading figures within the FARC have long called on the ELN to agree to peace talks in order to end the five-decade conflict that has claimed over 200,000 lives. FARC head Timoleon Jimenez, alias Timochenko, met with Gabino in Cuba to help facilitate the development of peace talks.

The ELN has insisted that they cannot merely join the existing peace talks between the FARC and the government, but must have their own specific process.

The agenda between the ELN and the Colombian government is similar to that with the FARC and its six points include: participation of society, democracy for peace, transformations necessary for peace, victims rights, end of armed conflict, implementation and signature of the agreement.

The 41st round of negotiations between the Colombian government and the FARC began Friday. The negotiating parties have reached agreement on three out of six points on the agenda.

FARC Commander Ivan Marquez said an agreement regarding justice was "at hand."

"We begin this new round with the conviction that the process must redouble its unfailing march toward the end of the conflict. We have strong grounds for optimism," added Marquez.

Marquez said that the sub-commission tasked with securing a deal for a bi-lateral cease-fire had also made considerable progress.