The Colombian State and ELN Continue Negotiations in Venezuela

On Monday, delegations of the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) will begin the fourth cycle of peace negotiations in Venezuela.

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This will happen amid a 180-day bilateral ceasefire that came into force on August 3 throughout the Colombian territory. 

Before installing the new talks, the parties highlighted compliance with the agreements reached in the third cycle of dialogues that took place in Cuba.

Among those agreements was the installation of a "National Participation Committee" through which the administration of President Gustavo Petro and the ELN command seek to integrate civil society into the dialogues.

The parties highlighted that the first steps have been taken for the deployment of 25 national and territorial processes for the design of participation in the next four months.

Regarding the bilateral ceasefire, the parties assure that the mandate of the United Nations Security Council's verification mission has been extended.

They also pointed out that the "Monitoring and Verification Mechanism" as well as communication channels to avoid confrontations are in force throughout the country.

The Petro administration and the ELN agreed to "know, verify and jointly clarify each fact reported to the mechanism", with which they hope to improve the humanitarian situation of the populations and territories.

"In the fourth cycle, the delegations will continue to develop these two agreements. Likewise, they will deal with other relevant issues," the negotiators said and thanked the hospitality of Venezuela, where the talks were resumed on November 21, 2022 after four years of suspension caused by former President Ivan Duque (2018-2022).

Meanwhile in Colombia, members of both delegations continue working on the design of participation through the "Monitoring and Verification Mechanism."