Faced with this new situation, the members of the ELN peace delegation that remained in Cuba withdrew from the national territory, in compliance with an agreement between the National Government of Colombia and the ELN, and the guarantors of Norway, Venezuela and Cuba.

As is known, on January 18, 2019, the Government of Colombia publicly announced the decision to conclude the peace talks between the Colombian government and the ELN, which had been taking place in Havana, Cuba, at the request of the then President Juan Manuel Santos, of the ELN and other international actors.

From that very moment, Cuba appealed to the Government of Colombia and the ELN, so that they adopt the pertinent actions that would allow applying the entitled “Protocol Established in Case of Breakdown of the Negotiation of Peace Dialogues Colombian Government-ELN”, signed in the framework of the peace negotiations by the Government of Colombia, the ELN and the guarantor countries on April 5, 2016.

Said protocol establishes that “if the peace talks break down, the countries and the parties will have 15 days from their announcement to plan and specify the return to Colombia of the representative members of the ELN delegation.”

Forty-five months have passed since the time the agreement should have been fulfilled.

Regarding the permanence in Cuba of the ELN peace delegation, the previous Colombian government developed hostile actions against Cuba, through the ungrateful and politically motivated manipulation of the Cuban contribution to peace in Colombia and ignored the rupture protocol, frankly abandonment and breaking of the commitments acquired by that State with six other signatory nations.

The actions of the previous government of Colombia, in collusion with anti-Cuban sectors in the United States, provided the pretexts for the purposes of the Trump Government to intensify the economic, financial and commercial blockade against Cuba and the illegitimate designation of Cuba as a State Sponsor of Terrorism that causes enormous costs and serious humanitarian consequences for the Cuban people.

Cuba acted in strict adherence to its status as guarantor and alternative venue, in an impartial, responsible, professional and discreet manner, in the interest of a political solution to the conflict in Colombia to achieve the peace that its people long for.

With the application of the rupture protocol, what was agreed between the parties and with the guarantors is fulfilled and it is confirmed that the position of principles and in adherence to international law adopted by Cuba was correct.

Likewise, Cuba supports the announcement made today in Caracas by representatives of the Government of Colombia and the ELN, in the presence of the guarantors of Venezuela, Norway, Cuba and special guests, that the talks table will be reinstated in the coming weeks.

Cuba reiterates its decision to carry out this process in the strictest respect for the consent and specific agreements reached between the Government of Colombia and the ELN based on official requests received from them.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba reiterates that Cuba will continue to support and contribute, together with the guarantor countries, to the negotiations with the ELN, which it sees as an opportunity and reiterates its deep conviction that the Colombian people deserve peace. and find the ways to reach it.

On his Twitter account, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla ratified the Minrex statement.

Representatives of the Colombian government and members of the so-called Central General Staff of the extinct FARC-EP dissidents, held an exploratory meeting to assess the return to peace talks.

In a joint statement they detailed that the exploratory meeting took place in the department of Caquetá with the accompaniment of the representative of the UN Verification Mission in Colombia and another from the Norwegian government.

According to the document, they expressed the willingness and need for these dialogues to be set by a bilateral ceasefire, whose execution must be verified.

The High Commissioner for Peace, Danilo Rueda, explained at the meeting the concept of President Gustavo Petro’s Total Peace policy, its constitutional and legal framework, and its territorial approach, the criteria for building trust, as well as the dialogue presuppositions.

“A central issue in the government’s response to Total Peace is the binding substantial citizen demands and the rights that must be guaranteed to transition to the Social and Environmental State of Law,” the text states.

For their part, the delegates of the insurgency presented their initial proposals to advance this objective and put an end to the internal conflict in the country. Among them, they pointed out that Total Peace for the FARC EP means the eradication of the causes that generate the social and armed conflict.

They determined in the meeting that a first step for a second rapprochement should be the declaration, as soon as possible, of a bilateral ceasefire agreed by the parties, thus avoiding more pain in the Colombian family and added that for the start of dialogue they will be consulted. all its structures.

Finally, they stressed the importance of the participation of neutral third parties as a guarantee in the dialogues.

The parties agreed to sign a confidential protocol to guarantee a meeting of the commanders of the Central General Staff of the FARC-EP.

“We believe that, as never before, in the history of our country, the conditions are being created to leave decades of fratricidal violence behind forever,” concluded the statement signed by High Commissioner Danilo Rueda and members of the guerrilla: Calarcá Córdoba , Alonso 45, Ermes Tovar and Erika Castro.

“The dialogue begins,” Petro wrote on his Twitter profile, a phrase that he accompanied with two photos and that attest to the meeting of the delegations to advance the Total Peace policy, a transversal axis to all his government programs to achieve change. In colombia.

(With information from Prensa Latina)

This agreement will allow for a public forum of talks between the government of Colombia and the ELN to commence, which represents an important new step forward in the efforts to achieve peace in Colombia.

(Cubaminrex.cu)

Representatives of the Revolutionary Armed Army of Colombia (FARC-EP) and the Colombian government forces signed an agreement this Tuesday on the issue of victims of armed conflict, within the framework of the peace talks.

The pact is the fourth major agreement between the parties during the peace negotiations in Havana since 2012. Other big deals covered land issues and rural development, political participation of the insurgency and drug trafficking.

A delegation composed of 10 representatives affected by the armed conflict left for Havana on Monday to sign the agreement on Tuesday, which touches on truth, reparation and guarantees to not repeat violence, as well as a system of transitional justice.

Before signing the final deal on the peace dialogue, the talks will entered their final stage aimed to cement the end the conflict. Both parties will also discuss mechanisms to ratify, implement and ascertain a possible final consensus.

The representative delegation of the FARC-EP presented a 10-point proposal on Monday to ensure an end to the war and make a significant contribution to building a stable and lasting peace.

The text, published on the website of the insurgency group, detailed initiatives on two agenda items currently discussed with the government of President Juan Manuel Santos, including a bilateral ceasefire and the disarmament of the rebels and the end of armed operations against them.

Last September, the two parties signed a preliminary 13-point agreement to achieve an end to the conflict that has gripped the country for over 50 years.

One of the most important points for the FARC-EP has been recognition as a political movement in Colombia, as well as an end to paramilitarism, which has led to thousands of internal displacements, especially in the countryside.

The parties aim to sign the final peace agreement before March 23, 2016.

(Telesur)

Jiménez posted on the #DesescalamientoYa page, where he has been reporting on the progress of peace talks with the Colombian government aiming to bring the conflict to a peaceful end.

FARC-EP spokespersons recently requested the Colombian government to establish a mutual truce in order to move toward a definitive bilateral ceasefire.

The rebel group declared an autonomous ceasefire on July 20, the sixth of its kind, with the aim of reducing civilian casualties and advancing toward ending the conflict.
The initiative was followed by a presidential order to cease air strikes on insurgent camps, but hostilities continue with ground operations.
In other posts Jiménez denounced actions which threaten the unilateral agreement reached three months ago, including the persistence of military operations in areas where regiments under his command are based.
President Juan Manuel Santos noted the possibility of declaring a permanent ceasefire beginning January 1 or even earlier as a Christmas present to the nation, meanwhile the FARC-EP has requested that the Colombian government declare an immediate ceasefire.

As a result of the peace talks taking place in Cuba since 2012, the two parties have reached agreement on issues such as comprehensive agrarian reform, political participation with a focus on democratic processes, and the fight against drug trafficking.
They have also agreed to the creation of a Special Jurisdiction for Peace, a mechanism which prioritizes the rights of the victims and is to focus on truth seeking, reparations and guarantees of non-repetition; as well as an accord on disappeared persons, and a programtoclearrural areas of landmines, already begun in Antioquia.

(Granma)

According to ¡Basta ya! (Enough Already!) Colombia: Memories of War and Dignity, of the National Center for Historical Memory. (CNMH), the over 50 year war, one of the longest in the region, has resulted in the displacement of six million people, 220,000 dead, and almost 30,000 kidnapped.

The Center has begun compiling statistics from the period between 1958 and 2012, starting in 1958, the year in which clashes between liberals and conservatives – also known as “La Violencia” (The Violence) – began.

Meanwhile, 25,000 people were estimated to have been disappeared since the outset of the conflict; however, the current figure is believed to be 45,000, reported Paula Gaviria, director of the Unit for Care and Integral Reparation of Victims, on October 19.

Experts have also noted that the tragedy of the disappeared continues to impact and persist throughout the nation, particularly in Antioquia, Cesar, Meta and Ca quetá.

This is why the recent agreement reached between the Colombian government and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP), in the context of the ongoing peace process, is giving hope to families of the victims demanding their right to learn the whereabouts of their loved ones.

The accord proposes the creation of a special body to deal with such cases, and collaboration with the International Red Cross (IRC), the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences in addition to other specialist Colombian organizations.

The document signed in Havana, where the talks have been taking place since November 2012, also notes that the government of Juan Manuel Santos will speed up the process of identifying those who have died during police operations and buried as John Does (unidentified).

For its part, the FARC-EP has pledged to hand over details about the location of victims’ remains.

The agreement on locating the whereabouts of victims could suggest that the process is coming to an end; which is why news of the accord was met with such broad reactions from diverse sectors of Colombian society.

Head of the IRC in Colombia, Christoph Harnisch, stated that the institution is ready “to help implement these decisions;” adding that the Committee will provide key assistance in exhuming remains in areas to which the state does not have access, advice to institutions responsible for undertaking the issue, and other missions.

Voices calling for peace in Colombia are also making themselves heard, such as that of Senator Iván Cepeda, who described the accord as “transcendental.” In an interview with Latin American multinational broadcaster Telesur, the Alternative Democratic Pole Senator, went further saying, “It constitutes a new component in the system of truth, justice and reparations.”

According to Cepeda, the agreement will provide thousands of Colombians with an efficient mechanism to search for their loved ones in cemeteries, common graves, and could also give them the opportunity to obtain information, locate, exhume and identify their missing relations.

The accord is giving people back their rights in what is considered to be one of the country’s most terrible atrocities, along with forced disappearances.

For now, the wounds of this conflict are beginning to be healed, while the principal participants in the peace talks themselves have publicly promised to initiate a process of healing to bring peace to the nation.

(Granma)

In a statement released this Thursday on the Ecuadoran Foreign Ministry’s website and cited by AVN, CELAC Foreign Ministers noted “these agreements are also the basis for the consolidation of peace on the continent in accordance with the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, adopted in Havana, Cuba on January 28 and 29, 2014.”

The agreement envisages the creation of a special jurisdiction to build a process of stable and lasting peace that guarantees the rights of victims and contributes to reparation. This jurisdiction will include chambers of justice and a court, which will work together with the Truth Commission, in order to investigate, prosecute and convict those involved in crimes committed during the armed conflict.

(Granma)

“We have agreed that within six months, at the latest, this negotiation of a final accord can be completed. A few difficult points remain, but we are already ending a 60-year war; the only one, and the longest, on our continent,” Santos said.

“I would like to recognize and highlight the step taken today by the revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP)”, he continued.

“Today we are moving in the same direction, and it is the most noble one, which is that of peace.”

“Equally important as guaranteeing the rights of victims is ensuring that there will be no more victims, that the armed conflict be definitively ended,” Santos stated.

He recognized that the Colombian government bears the responsibility of assuring the FARC-EP’s security, as the new agreement is implemented.

He also noted that the rebels had agreed to lay down their arms within 60 days of the final accord.

The Colombian state will grant broad amnesty for political crimes, but crimes legally defined as crimes against humanity, genocide and serious war crimes will not be eligible for clemency, according to the text of the section just signed by the FARC-EP and the country’s government.

Referring to the victims and justice section of the accord, Santos described it as the “greatest accomplishment” thus far in the talks, saying that the Jurisdiction for Peace, for the most serious crimes, will not allow impunity.

Santos said all Colombians will have the opportunity to ratify the final agreement.

He thanked Raúl Castro and Cuba for their “hospitality and commitment to peace in Colombia;” the government of Norway which also serves as a guarantor; in addition to Venezuela and Chile, who are accompanying the process.

The Colombian President concluded saying, “I will take the words of Pope Francis, encourage the path, pray for sustaining efforts to reach definitive reconciliation and not allow another fiasco along this road to peace. We will not fail; the hour of peace has arrived.”

(Granma)

He said that the step would generate an environment conducive to advancing with regards to the outstanding items on the peace talks’ agenda.

“We are pleased to announce that this special jurisdiction for peace has been designed for everyone involved in the conflict, combatants and non-combatants, and not just one of the sides,” he said.

From a primarily restorative perspective, this jurisdiction opens up the possibilities of offering the detailed and complete truth about the conflict, in order to lay the foundations for reparation and non-repetition, to guarantee the rights of victims and meet the expectations of society in terms of reconciliation, he added.

The Special Jurisdiction for Peace, which establishes a model that fully respects Colombia’s international obligations and humanitarian norms, will surely be observed and taken into account in other peace processes, he noted.

It is now for the parties to redouble their efforts aimed at building a consensus that will bring us closer to a bilateral ceasefire, to definitions regarding the surrender of weapons and the transformation of the FARC-EP into a legal political movement, generating specific conditions such as the dismantling of paramilitaries, he concluded.

(Granma)

Granma offers a chronology of the most important events of this peace process, which has seen the most progress since the agreements made under President Belisario Bentancur in the 1980s.

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2012

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September 4.- Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (FARC-EP) announce the signing of a General Agreement for the Termination of the Conflict and the Construction of a Stable and Lasting Peace, in Havana. The text establishes six points of discussion in order to achieve peace after more than half a century of conflict: a comprehensive agricultural development policy, political participation, an end to the conflict, ending the illegal drugs trade, victims’ rights, and the implementation, verification and ratification of the agreements. Cuba and Norway take on the role of guarantor nations to the peace process. Venezuela and Chile are named as accompanying nations.

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September 4.- Statement from the Ministry of Foreign Relations of Cuba outlines that the Revolution has a historic commitment to the peace process in Colombia and to the efforts underway to end the political, social and military conflict in this sister nation.

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October 17.- Peace process beings in Oslo, Norway. First plenipotentiary negotiators announced.
Government of Colombia: Former Vice President, Humberto de la Calle; High Commissioner for Peace, Sergio Jaramillo; President of the National Business Association (ANDI), Luis Carlos Villegas; and retired Generals Jorge Enrique Mora Rángel (Armed Forces) and Óscar Naranjo (Police).
FARC-EP: Comandante Iván Márquez, Ricardo Téllez, Andrés París and Marco León Calarcá. The organization requests that Simón Trinidad, imprisoned in the United States, be included in the negotiating team.

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November 6.- Technical meeting in Havana to define details in order to begin the process of peace talks.

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November 13.- The second largest guerrilla organization in Colombia, the National Liberation Army (ELN), announces its willingness to initiate “exploratory peace talks” three days after the talks between the FARC and the Colombian government begin in Havana.

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November 19.- Peace talks between government of Juan Manuel Santos and FACR-EP officially inaugurated in Havana’s Convention Center. Iván Márquez, member of the FARC-EP secretariat announces a unilateral cease fire from November 20 through January 20, by the rebels.

(Diario Granma)