Colombia’s ELN rebels rejected President Ivan Duque’s demand on Monday to end all illegal activity and challenged his credibility for allegedly failing to respect made agreements.
The country’s last-standing guerrilla group released an editorial on its website in which it fiercely rejected the Duque administration’s newly imposed conditions to continue talks that began a year and a half ago under former President Juan Manuel Santos.
ELN
The ELN and Santos spent years negotiating the conditions for peace talks, and were negotiating a bilateral ceasefire that would obligate the ELN to end its illegal activity until the last day of Santos’ presidency.
Duque said Monday in New York that peace talks while violence is ongoing are “non-viable.” The president and his hard-right Democratic Center party for years have opposed talks with the ELN and a peace deal with the much larger FARC.
Colombia’s Duque talks peace at UN summit while inching his country towards war
The guerrillas on the other hand insist that the new government respect agreements made by the previous government on behalf of the state, and insist on negotiating a way out of the armed conflict, and the illegal activities the guerrillas finance their war with.
According to the guerrillas, Duque ignores the fact that the ELN is an insurgent group that has fought the state and will only abide to its laws until after a negotiated agreement.
ELN
The guerrillas claim the current administration is violating the agreements made with the state by insisting it can unilaterally impose new conditions on the talks that began in February last year after years of informal negotiations.
The United Nations and foreign sponsor countries have urged both parties to continue negotiations and prevent an escalation of armed conflict that has already left 260,000 Colombians dead.
Guerrillas responsible for 17% of civilian deaths in Colombia’s armed conflict
Unlike in previous years, the ELN appears to have been holding back on high-profile attacks. The guerrillas have taken advantage of a power vacuum left by state security forces after the demobilization of the FARC last year and have considerably expanded territory under their control.
Duque’s position to not resume the peace talks can count on little support, both nationally and internationally.
Some 70% of Colombians want their president to negotiate an end out of the half-a-century armed conflict, according to pollster Gallup. Many in the international community, with the exception of the United States, have insisted that peace talks are the only way out of the drug-fueled conflict that has devastated Colombia for decades.
Experts have warned that a reactivation of war with the ELN would put Colombia, and particularly communities living in ELN territories, in “grave danger.”