Colombia and ELN rebels to restart peace talks

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Delegates of Colombia's government and the nation's largest remaining guerrilla group met on Tuesday and announced that they will restart peace talks that were suspended in 2018.

After meeting in Venezuela's capital city, representatives of the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army issued a statement saying a date for the peace talks would be announced after the first week of November. The statement also added that Norway, Venezuela and Cuba would be “guarantor states” in the talks, and that the participation of civil society groups would be “essential” for the peace talks to succeed.

A place for the talks has not yet been announced, though ELN commander Antonio Garcia suggested that different stages of the negotiations could be held in Cuba, Norway and Venezuela.

The ELN was founded in the 1960s by students, union leaders and priests that drew inspiration from Cuba's revolution. The group is believed to have around 4,000 fighters in Colombia and is also present in Venezuela where it runs illegal gold mines and drug trafficking routes.

Following a 2016 peace deal between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the ELN became the nation's largest remaining guerrilla group. Since then it has increased its activities in territories that were formerly under FARC control. The group is known for staging kidnapping and attacks on oil infrastructure and has been listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.

Colombia's recently elected President Gustavo Petro, has promised to make peace deals with the ELN and several other armed groups in Colombia. He has shifted away from the strategy of the previous government, which suspended talks with the ELN after the rebels refused to stop attacking military targets.