Talks between AUC dissident group EGC and the National Government resumed after Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez walked back threats to either kill or capture EGC commander “Chiquito Malo.”
The EGC suspended the talks earlier this month after Sanchez said that President Gustavo Petro and his US counterpart Donald Trump agreed to make Chiquito Malo a high-value target for both governments.
Sanchez subsequently specified that the army would only go after commanders of illegal armed groups who have abandoned talks with the government.
Following a meeting in the capital Bogota, government and EGC negotiators had overcome the previously announced suspension and resumed talks “in a constructive atmosphere.”
The session took place in a constructive atmosphere. The peace process for the demobilization of the self-styled Gaitanista Army of Colombia and the construction of peace with the people in the territories continues to advance within the framework of the commitments signed, overcoming the suspension of talks that had been announced by the EGC Joint Chiefs of Staff in previous days.
Negotiators
The EGC is the main successor of the now-defunct paramilitary organization AUC and is estimated to have almost 10,000 members and believed to be heavily involved in organized crime activity like drug trafficking and illegal mining.
Particularly in the Caribbean region and the northwestern Antioquia and Choco provinces, the organization is believed to have coopted local law enforcement and municipal administrations.
Negotiators of the group and the national government have been meeting in Doha, the capital of Qatar, to negotiate the dismantling of their organization.
These negotiations would include justice for victims of crimes committed by the EGC and their associates, and allow State authorities to assume control over territories that have effectively been run by paramilitaries since the 1990’s.
The suspension of talks threatened ongoing pilot programs that seeks to gradually allow the State to enter EGC territory and effectively provide State services.
