ELN Orders Structures to Comply With Ceasefire as of August 3

The Central Command of Colombia's National Liberation Army (ELN) ordered Monday all its structures to suspend offensive operations against the Military Forces, the Police and Colombian State security agencies, as of August 3.

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The ELN's first commander, Antonio Garcia, read a communiqué in which the instruction was issued. The document was published on the Twitter account of the guerrilla group's delegation. 

It is called upon "all commanders and combatants of the National Liberation Army (ELN) to rigorously comply with this agreed ceasefire."

According to the ELN commander, the order issued is part of the agreement signed last July 15 with the Government for the Temporary National Bilateral Ceasefire (CFBNT), which will last 180 days until January 29, 2024.

The tweet reads, "Orders for Bilateral, National and Temporary Ceasefire.
The ELN Central Command orders the beginning of the Ceasefire from next August 3. On that day the National Participation Committee will also be installed."

Under the ceasefire, defensive operations will continue, says the communiqué, noting that in the presence of incidents, the structures will report what happened to the command, which will make the report to the Monitoring and Verification Mechanisms (MMV).

During the six months that the ceasefire will be in effect, the process of participation of society will be advanced. 

National Participation Committee to be installed in Bogotá

The Colombian National Government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) announced in a joint communiqué that next Wednesday the National Participation Committee will be installed in Bogotá, Colombia, in compliance with the ninth agreement of the Peace Dialogue Table.

The committee "will play a fundamental role as the body in charge of designing and promoting the participation of society in the peace process." The objective of this process is to carry out a diagnosis of the country's problems, in addition to building a national agenda of transformations.

The members of the Committee will be announced next Thursday in a public act, starting at 10:00 a.m. (local time), in which the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, and members of the Colombian civil society will be present.

Last June, the Colombian government and the guerrilla agreed in Havana on a bilateral, national and temporary ceasefire, as part of the "Cuba Agreements" reached during the third cycle of talks.