Representatives from Colombia’s government and guerrilla group ELN traveled to Mexico to resume peace talks.
The second round of talks include negotiations about a possible ceasefire that has been promoted by President Gustavo Petro.
The ELN delegates have said they are willing to cease fire if the negotiators come to a formal agreement that includes a mechanism to monitor possible violations.
A 2017 ceasefire that was agreed between former President Juan Manuel Santos and the guerrillas failed because both parties accused the other of violating the deal.
The United Nations and the Organization of American States have agreed to monitor a possible ceasefire and mediate in the event of alleged violations.
The negotiators will continue talking about measures to alleviate the humanitarian situation in rebel regions were the ELN has been fighting other illegal armed groups.
These turf wars between the ELN and rival groups is one of the main causes of violence that affects civilians living in disputed guerrilla territory.
Parallel to the peace talks with the ELN, the Petro administration has also been talking to guerrilla organizations that were formed during an ongoing peace process with the now-defunct guerrilla group FARC.
Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez said Thursday that the government came to an agreement with the FARC dissident group of “Ivan Mordisco” to monitor compliance with a bilateral ceasefire that took force on January 1.
According to Velasquez, the FARC dissidents agreed to reveal the locations of their forces to prevent clashes with the military.
The defense minister also said that Mordisco’s guerrillas would stay away from rural cocaine production facilities to prevent clashes with counternarcotics forces.
The government has also said that it agreed to negotiate the demobilization of paramilitary groups AGC and drug trafficking organization “Los Pachenca,” but these talks have been blocked by Prosecutor General Francisco Barbosa.
The peace talks with the ELN and the talks to demobilize the other illegal armed groups are part of Petro’s “Total Peace” policy, which seeks to negotiate an end to persistent armed conflict and violence caused by organized crime.
Former President Ivan Duque’s attempts to dismantle these groups by force and sabotage the peace process with the FARC escalated violence after 2018.
