Guerrilla group EMC has decided to resume peace talks with Colombia’s government, the latter’s chief negotiator said Wednesday.
The group of “Ivan Mordisco,” a dissident commander of the now-defunct guerrilla group FARC, suspended the talks on November 5.
FARC dissidents suspend peace talks with Colombia’s government
According to the government’s chief negotiator, Camilo Gonzalez, the FARC dissidents decided to resume the talks in Catatumbo, a region close to the Venezuelan border.
Camilo Gonzalez
The peace talks seek to end the EMC’s rejection of a peace process that was agreed with the FARC in 2016.
The guerrillas suspended the talks earlier this month after the military refused to retreat from a village that is considered one of the EMC’s primary drug trafficking routes in southwest Colombia.
Colombia’s army agreed to leave drug trafficking route to guerrillas
The government has failed to confirm or deny the existence of the agreement that returned the control over the Micay Valley to the EMC’s Carlos Patiño unit.
Army attempts to assume control over this strategic corridor previously delayed the beginning of formal peace talks with the group that is believed to consist of more than 3,200 fighters.
Since the FARC’s demobilization and disarmament in 2017, the EMC has taken control of a large number of municipalities in what used to be the FARC’s heartland in southern Colombia and along the Venezuelan border in the east.
The EMC and the government have been trying to initiate peace talks since President Gustavo Petro took office in August last year.
Despite delays, Colombia’s government begins peace talks with EMC guerrillas
These talks are accompanied by a bilateral ceasefire between the guerrillas and the security forces.