Ecuador to Host Peace Talks Between ELN, Colombia Government

Ecuador will replace Venezuela in hosting peace talks between the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group and the Colombian government, a political expert announced Monday.

Colombian political analyst and former ELN member Leon Valencia revealed the news in an interview with Caracol Radio.

The political scientist added that Brazil might be consulted for help in transferring the guerrilla group members to the South American country.

Valencia added that Venezuela should not take the change as a rebuff “because they have always contributed to the negotiations, they have helped in logistics.” As a token of gratitude, he said, Venezuela wanted the negotiations to take place in Caracas.

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The news comes after last week the ELN leader announced that his guerrilla group and the government had agreed on an agenda for peace negotiations with the goal of a future peace agreement.

Representatives of the ELN and the government began meeting in Ecuador in January 2014, in an effort to create the conditions for a peace process similar to the one carried out since 2012 in Havana, Cuba, with the country's major guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

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, or Timochenko, met with Gabino in Cuba to help facilitate the development of peace talks.

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