The High Commissioner for Peace of Colombia, Danilo Ruedaannounced this Thursday that, after a first approach, the Government will start “formal phases” of dialogue with other armed groups, in what will be the second political negotiation after the one already started with the National Liberation Army (THE N).
”These days the phase of rapprochement with various armed groups of different natures is coming to an end and, after resolving a series of recent difficulties, we are going to begin formal phases of dialogue with groups of rebel origin”, the senior official said in a statement released by his office.
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Although the high commissioner does not specify which organizations they will sit down to negotiate with, the Government has advanced that for the moment it recognizes the Central Staffa FARC dissidence led by aliases “ivan bite”, who never signed the 2016 peace agreement.
The process is more complicated with the Second Marquetalia, led by alias “ivan marquez”, since its members did accept the peace of 2016 but returned to arms, so it is presumed that these talks are longer.
Parallel to this process with the rebel groups and "following the precepts of the nascent law of subjection and dismantling”, the Government will initiate a phase of “socio-legal spaces with groups that do not have a rebel origin”, Rueda specified.
Misgivings about peace and reforms
On the other hand, the high commissioner lamented that “the giant steps of the peace plans and, in the broader panorama, the great reforms that President Petro is implementing, exacerbated the misgivings”.
”Now they will try to stop us at all costs. Playing the game of devious attacks against peace, rumors and false information that misrepresents our actions, is to fall into the trap of those who profit from chaos and war, and flee from the truth.”, he lamented when referring to the controversies that have surrounded his position in these first six months of Government.
In this regard, he added that "By closing the six-month phase of rapprochement and measuring the will for peace of armed groups, we witnessed a wave of obstructions and sabotage of our management”.
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He also reviewed some of the achievements of the ceasefire agreements with armed groups, criticized for their non-compliance.
In his opinion, these advancesare beginning to disrupt the free flow of illegal resources in large regions” and that the groups that exercise territorial control restrict the expansion of crops for illicit use.
One of the main promises of the president Gustavo Petro was chasing atotal peace” which involves establishing dialogues and negotiations with the armed groups that operate in the country.
