BOGOTA (Reuters) -Colombia’s authorities has referred to as off peace talks with leftist insurgent group the Nationwide Liberation Military (ELN), its peace delegation mentioned on Wednesday, following an assault which killed two troopers and injured greater than two dozen.
The choice is one other devastating blow to President Gustavo Petro’s cornerstone whole peace coverage, which regarded to take away the ELN from its function within the Andean nation’s six-decades of inside armed battle.
“Right this moment the peace course of is on maintain. Its viability is severely diminished and its continuation can solely go forward with an unequivocal demonstration of peace by the ELN,” the federal government peace delegation mentioned in a put up on X.
The federal government restarted negotiations with the ELN on the finish of 2022 and held six rounds of talks with the insurgent group in Mexico, Cuba and Venezuela.
The assault which brought about the talks to be suspended came about on Tuesday in a rural space of Colombia’s Arauca province, which borders Venezuela.
The talks had been in disaster for months after the federal government determined to start separate negotiations with a unit within the southwest of the nation that had break up from the remainder of the ELN.
Negotiations froze, with the ELN subsequently restarting kidnappings, a component of its arsenal it had given up throughout the talks.
For the reason that finish of the ceasefire, the ELN ramped up offensives in opposition to the army and police and in addition resumed bombings on Colombia’s community of oil pipelines, contaminating the atmosphere with subsequent oil spills.
Colombia’s army additionally restarted operations in opposition to the rebels.
The choice to droop the peace talks implies the reissue of arrest warrants for the ELN’s high commanders, who’re at the moment based mostly in Venezuela and Cuba, based on the federal government.
There was no speedy remark from the ELN.
