Status: 01/01/2023 10:00 a.m
In Colombia, the peace process promised by President Petro is making progress. The government agreed a ceasefire with the five largest armed organizations – initially until the end of June.
The Colombian government has agreed on a six-month ceasefire with the ELN guerrillas, the FARC and three other groups.
A “bilateral ceasefire” from January 1 to June 30 this year had been agreed with the left-wing guerrilla group National Liberation Army (ELN) and splinter groups from the demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), declared the country’s first left-wing president, Gustavo Petro. in the short message service Twitter.
“The bilateral ceasefire obliges the armed organizations and the state to comply with it. There will be a national and international review mechanism.” The government announced that it would issue a decree for each of the organizations, specifying the duration and terms of the ceasefire.
Negotiations on peace talks
Petro was a member of the M-19 guerrilla movement. During his inaugural speech as president last August, he announced that he would unite the divided country and lead it to “total peace”.
As early as 2016, after years of fighting against the Colombian government, the left-wing FARC concluded a peace agreement with the state and surrendered its weapons. In 2019, however, a small faction of the FARC announced rearmament because the agreement with the government was said to have been broken.
At least 450,000 people were killed in fighting between government troops, left-wing rebel groups, right-wing militias and drug cartels in Colombia between 1985 and 2018.