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Colombia's National Liberation Army (ELN) peace delegates don't believe President-Elect Ivan Duque's proposals can secure the peace the country so desperately needs.
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July 5 marks the 54th anniversary of the founding of the ELN, an insurgent group now holding peace talks with the Colombian government in Havana, Cuba. In these exclusive interviews with the ELN delegates, teleSUR analyzes the political situation in Colombia.
teleSUR: After reading the last press release, it feels like the government's delegation is not a delegation able to create commitment. Is it a table with Santos' government or with the Colombian state?
Pablo Beltran: What are we hoping for? That the incoming government respects the effort of more than five years working for a political solution and continues with the efforts. That's what's reasonable for Colombia, that's called having peace as a state policy.
teleSUR: You've taken more than a year and a half designing a social participation model in this table. Why has the participation not advanced?
Aureliano Carbonell: In that agreement and in the country's future, the proposal of the society is vital and decisive. The government wants to limit and trivialize this participatory process.
teleSUR: What do you think about Ivan Duque's peace proposals? Are you willing to agree to a unilateral ceasefire and agreements under international observance?
Alirio Sepulveda: They want to impose the DDR model on us, meaning Disarming, Demobilizing and Reintegrating, while we're saying peace is achieved with transformations. The ceasefire and the agreement is the final point of the conflict and not the beginning of the peace agreements we're working on now.
teleSUR: The situation of the process with the FARC is worrying: they changed the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP); they want to extradite Santricha, reintegration is not working. How is that affecting your process?
Gustavo Martinez: They're breaking all kinds of agreements and of course that generates uncertainty within the ELN about the seriousness of this process.
teleSUR: Why are the humanitarian route clearance in Nariño and the Choco Humanitarian Agreement stuck?
Consuelo Tapias: At the table, the government of Juan Manuel Santos has conditioned the enforcement or development of these two agreements on signing other ceasefires.
teleSUR: The clashes in Catatumbo with the People's Liberation Army (EPL) and the debate over the coca fields: how is the ELN committing regarding this two issues?
Silvana Guerrero: In the Catatumbo region, the ELN has committed to respect the different proposals done by the government towards farmers in order to voluntarily eradicate [coca fields] without repression, but the state must also acquire real commitments about the different alternatives or projects with the region's farmers.
Regarding the clashes with the EPL in Catatumbo, the ELN has committed to facilitate meetings in the territory with social organizations, the church and others.
teleSUR: There are concerns in Choco regarding problems between you and the civilian population. How have you managed the community's complaints?
Bernardo Tellez: Our Omar Gomez War Fronthas answered directly, fostering encounters with the communities and their authorities, obviously respecting their organization ways, community justice and looking for a way to find joint solutions to those problems. The Western Front is committed with that.
teleSUR: Is the ELN evaluating the recent presidential elections?
Isabel Torres: We're worried about the increasing number of murdered leaders and human rights defenders because it points out there are not guarantees this force can be able to consolidate and move forward by democratic, legal means.
teleSUR: Would you return to war if the peace process breaks down?
Tomas Laviana: The dialogue is happening in the middle of the resistance. We have not signed any demobilization agreement. We're firm in the intention of finding a political exit to the conflict. Taking the violence out of politics; doing the necessary basic changes, and a peace culture based on resistance will keep being our objectives.
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