Former ELN leader Francisco Galan will head the “Center of Thought for Peace and Post-conflict” following the peace talks between the Colombian government and the country’s largest guerrilla group FARC.
Gerardo Bermudez, alias “Francisco Galan,” will officially coordinate the Center of Thought for Peace “which aims to make proposals to ensure that the agreements achieved at the negotiating table, to be established in Havana, become a reality,” reported newspaper El Espectador. The center will focus on public policy that guarantee solutions to conflict in the country.
According to newspaper Semana, the ex-guerrilla has no intention of participating in the actual peace talks that will occur in Havana, Cuba but he has also claimed that the peace table “is sacred,” affirming his belief in the peace process between FARC and Colombian authorities and the positive result it could have on the country.
Galan has been involved in peace talks before with his own former ELN guerrilla group and the government. He was spokesman for negotiations until 2009 when he was kicked out for trying to push peace with the government, a view the guerrilla army did not ultimately share with Galan.
Although the talks were unsuccessful, Galan’s experience as a guerrilla and at the negotiating table could be an important asset to the post-conflict peace process.