The School of Peace at Barcelona’s Autonomous University wrote an open letter to Colombian guerrilla group the ELN asking the rebels to begin peace talks with the government, El Tiempo reports.
“The current government has reached out its hand for dialogue, and the guerrillas, in the words of its maximum leader, ‘Gabino,’ have shown themselves equally willing to talk,” asserts the letter, “so the conditions are given for both parties to explore the opportunity to resume formal talks.”
The letter, signed by school director Vicenç Fisas, says that the ELN should put into action their repeated statements that they want peace. “It’s not enough to proclaim a desire to exit in their media of communication. It is time to translate it into a formal dialogue which, drawing on the achievements in Havana in 2005, serves to restore the good of the ‘Basic Agreement’ of the time, which was in a very advanced phase.”
ELN commander Gabino in November appeared in a video uploaded to YouTube in which he said that the guerrilla group wants to open “a dialogue of peace” with the Colombian government.
Gabino read a three-page press release from the organization, stating that “Today, more than ever, peace is a requirement of the country.”
Read the School of Peace’s report on the peace process in Colombia here.