ELN would accept scrutiny for links to drug trafficking

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Colombian National Liberation Army guerrilla group has announced its willingness to submit to the review of an international commission to determine whether or not it is involved in drug trafficking in order to finalize a peace agreement with the government of President Gustavo Petro. In an interview with the Associated Press, Aureliano Carbonell, a member of the armed group’s delegation taking part in the second round of talks with the government, which will end on Friday in Mexico, denied that the ELN had links to the trafficking of drug, as claimed by its detractors. The next talks will resume in April in Cuba, the parties reported on Wednesday. Havana said Wednesday it had agreed to host the next meeting. The group is ready to resume the proposal presented three years ago to the Colombian and American governments of a commission “to examine whether or not we are involved in the company”. “We’re still against that,” Carbonell said. The ELN, born in 1964 and inspired by the Cuban revolution, has sat down to talk to the Colombian government on several occasions since the 1970s. The ongoing process, which began in 2017, was frozen in 2019 after a guerrilla attack. a police academy that left 22 dead and was reactivated last November with a president for the first time leftist leanings and who in his youth was part of the extinct M-19 (April 19 Movement) insurgency. One of the objectives of the current round of talks is to agree on a roadmap to move forward, among other things, towards a national ceasefire with the active participation of civil society, although it is still unclear how to integrate it. The government hopes this will mean not only a reduction in armed clashes but also in “illegal activities that cause harm and violence”, said the head of the government delegation, José Otty Patiño.

The first round of the new stage of talks between the government and the ELN took place between late November and December in Venezuela.

In 2006, the ELN banned its troops from financing illegal activities, such as drug trafficking and gold mining, either by collecting taxes or by controlling the whole business, according to the Truth Commission created after the signing in 2016 of the peace agreement with the main authorities of the country. guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The United States and the European Union still have the ELN on the list of terrorist organizations. For Carlos Beristain, who was a member of the Truth Commission, this approach would be important if it is linked to the guarantee of the security conditions of the communities and to an international framework and that of the Catholic Church which accompanies the process. The commissioner added that another fundamental point is to advance a “humanitarian agreement” so that “people can also have an experience of peace” during the negotiations. The parties agree and in December they agreed to respond to certain emergencies but, according to Carbonell, some of these “humanitarian dynamics” are still pending, such as prison allowances for certain ELN detainees or the guarantee health care or food in some communities in conflict zones. For this reason, he insisted on accelerating the creation of humanitarian corridors under international supervision that allow the supply of the population and that they can move in safe conditions. The ELN, Carbonell said, is ready to do its part and respect the integrity of these corridors, but recalled that in many territories different armed groups and drug gangs operate in conflict with each other. Some of them accepted a ceasefire with the government but not with the guerrillas. “If they attack you, you can’t sit idly by,” Carbonell said after recalling that they’re just negotiating with the executive. The ELN has questioned Petro’s “total peace” strategy because it does not want to be on the same level as other armed actors such as the Clan del Golfo, considered the most dangerous group in Colombia. Petro has made it clear that he will not negotiate politically with the drug traffickers, but that they will have to submit to justice. In the talks with the ELN, the government opted for risky bets such as integrating into its delegation a man close to the influential and controversial former president Álvaro Uribe, but Carbonell considered it positive. “To move forward in a process, the participation of many is necessary, and in particular of the sectors which have traditionally governed the country.” Colombia’s six decades of internal conflict have left nearly half a million people murdered, more than 120,000 missing and 7.7 million displaced, according to the Truth Commission report released last year. Today, the dialogue process is viewed with some optimism. Since November, both sides have made gestures of goodwill: the government suspending arrest warrants that weighed on guerrilla negotiators and the ELN releasing more than 20 hostages, the latest on Wednesday, two days before closing the cycle of conversations in Mexico. But the last active guerrillas in Colombia also want to learn from the mistakes of the peace process with the FARC because many agreements are still awaiting application. Petro has chosen to fast-track some, such as rural reform, but problems persist with more than 13,000 ex-combatants being reintegrated and persecuted by violence. At least 355 of them have already been killed, according to a recent United Nations report. “You can’t sign papers and that’s it, all the guns have been handed over…no, that can’t be the case anymore, we are going into a process where we comply” with each party and with the participation of the society. “The problem in Colombia is not solved by the disappearance of the guerrilla forces while everything remains the same.” ———- AP journalist Astrid Suárez in Bogotá contributed to this report.