The government of Colombia and the main Colombian guerrilla, the National Liberation Army (ELN), announced yesterday in Cuba a “national”, “bilateral” and “temporary” ceasefire, which will begin on August 3 and it will last six months. This is the longest truce that has ever been agreed between the Colombian State and the Marxist guerrillas.
Even so, and despite this half year of provisionality, the Colombian left-wing president, ex-guerrilla Gustavo Petro, was very optimistic and assured that “in May 2025, the decades-long war between the ELN and the state”. However, Petro clarified that this is a “promise” made in the framework of the negotiations with this guerrilla, the largest of the armed groups that survive in Colombia after the abandonment of weapons by the Forces Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in 2016.
The historic and surprising announcement of the ceasefire was made in Havana, during an event where Petro and the first commander of the ELN, Eliécer Herlinto Chamorro, alias Antonio GarcÃa, were separated by the president of Cuba, Miguel Diaz-Canel.
With this act, the third round of negotiations between the guerrillas and the government, which took place from May 2 in Havana, came to a successful end. The fourth round of dialogues will take place in Caracas between August 14 and September 4, when the ceasefire will have already begun. The Venezuelan capital has alternated with Havana as the seat of negotiations between the ELN and Petro’s government, which began contacts with the guerrillas a few days after assuming power in August last year.
The agreed ceasefire consists of a first phase, which will conclude on July 6. From now until then, both the Armed Forces and the guerrillas will order the units to suspend hostilities. Therefore, between the 6th of July and the 3rd of August, there should no longer be any confrontations, but to avoid what happened in other truces, such a wide margin of time will be left. A sign that both sides want to take firm steps and prevent any incident from overturning the truce, as happened other times.
In any case, the head of the ELN’s negotiators, Israel RamÃrez, alias Pablo Beltrán, clarified yesterday that the ceasefire signed does not include the guerrilla’s “financing” actions, with reference to kidnappings and extortion , crimes that will be put on the table during the fourth round of dialogues, in Venezuela. “If they take a spoon from you, they have to give you another,” said Beltrán.
For his part, President DÃaz-Canel took the floor during the ceasefire signing ceremony and was as optimistic as Petro when he said that peace “is possible” and encouraged the parties to reach to a definitive agreement. “We encourage you to continue moving forward and take advantage of this historical context”, said the Cuban president.
All Colombian governments have unsuccessfully negotiated with the ELN – founded in 1964 – although, so far, none have gone as far as the Executive chaired by Gustavo Petro, an ex-guerrilla who was part of the Democratic Alliance M-19 (M-19), a revolutionary organization that operated between 1974 and 1990, when it disbanded and members became involved in political life, although most of the leaders would later be killed.
The truce with the guerrillas occurred on the same day that the Colombian prosecutor’s office announced the opening of an investigation against Petro for alleged corruption in the financing of the electoral campaign.
In recent days, the president has been marred by a scandal that has forced him to do without two of his closest collaborators, his chief of staff, Laura Sarabia, and the former ambassador to Venezuela, Armando Benedetti, who played a significant role in Petro’s first contacts with the ELN, and now threatens to uncover the cake on campaign financing.
