Colombian government claims that ELN released all hostages it had by 2023

The government’s main negotiator Colombia in peace talks with National Liberation Army (THEN), Vera Grabeconfirmed to EFE that this guerrilla released all the people who were reported and verified as being kidnapped for economic purposes until last December.

In an interview that EFE will publish in full this Thursday, Grabe reported that in the negotiation cycle of the Mexico last December,when the kidnapping discussion thread started”, the Government provided a list of 26 people detained for economic purposes by this armed group, cases verified by the verification mechanism of the bilateral ceasefire with the THEN.

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Then, the ELN released “all but three” that were released after the next cycle, carried out in To Havana In January, the bilateral ceasefire was extended for 180 days and that guerrilla committed, in an unprecedented way, to “unilaterally and temporarily suspend economic withholdings”, which is what they call the kidnappings of civilians.

“That is, they fulfilled“, said the chief negotiator, who has just returned from Havana, where on Monday the two delegations managed to redirect and defrost the peace negotiations.

The suspension of dialogues

On February 20, the ELN guaranteed that the dialogues were “In crisis” per “actions that violate what was agreed in the Conversation Table” which they have been carrying out for 15 months.

Specifically, the Central Command (COCE) of the ELN mentioned regional dialogues in Nariño (southwest), initiated by the governor of this border department with Ecuador where a front that the guerrillas said had been infiltrated by state agents was also allegedly involved.

“From the perspective of territorial transformations and territorial peace, there is a very interesting experience that is taking place in the department of Nariño, led by the governor, who has had a long commitment to this issue of transformations in the region.“, the Government’s chief negotiator contextualized today.

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The Government considers this type of initiatives “very important” for “overcome violence in the region”, and the idea is to continue them, but in a more coordinated way with the national negotiating table and without the participation of regional guerrilla fronts.

“The Government is the fundamental interlocutor in this dialogue process with the ELN, therefore, recognizing the regional dynamics, we consider it important and have insisted that there are levels of coordination, dialogue and cooperation with the national table,” Grabe noted.

However, the Government considers that this “I emphasize”in negotiations he surpassed:“We resolve, we find ways, we make commitments… And there is something very important in this emergency meeting that we had and that is that the activities continue,” said the academic and chief negotiator.

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.