Colombia's Last Active Guerrilla Group Agrees to Truce

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Facts

  • Colombia’s largest rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), stated on Tuesday that it has ordered its units across the country to halt all offensive actions against the military, including intelligence efforts, on July 6, as both sides prepare for a ceasefire.1
  • Meanwhile, Defense Minister Iván Velásquez told reporters that the government would also issue a decree ordering the armed forces cease fighting against the 5,800-strong guerrilla group.2
  • This comes as a six-month truce, set to come into force on August 3, was agreed to in June during peace negotiations that began last November, as President Gustavo Petro has sought to bring the country's decades-long internal conflict to an end.3
  • If the ceasefire holds, it would be the longest halt in the conflict the ELN has agreed to since first initiating conflict against the state in 1964. Both sides are set to continue peace negotiations in Venezuela from August.4
  • However, there is doubt whether this truce will succeed, as ELN members killed three police officers in northeastern Colombia on the day the ceasefire was announced. A week earlier, government forces killed six ELN rebels in the east.4
  • Petro, whose peace policy and other major reforms have been backed by an overwhelming congressional majority, has recently been facing growing dissent from lawmakers ahead of local elections scheduled for October.5

Sources: 1Associated Press, 2France 24, 3Reuters, 4BBC News, and 5Colombia News.

Narratives

  • Left narrative, as provided by Peoples Dispatch. This long-awaited agreement is a step towards peace that reasserts the commitment of both the Colombian government and the ELN to solving a six-decade-long armed conflict continuing to plague the country. Unlike past processes, Petro's "total peace" is likely to finally bring the armed insurgency to an end as it will not persecute the guerrillas after they demobilize and disarm.
  • Right narrative, as provided by The City Paper Bogotá. It's no coincidence that this announcement follows leaked conversations between top Colombian officials suggesting that drug cartels financially backed Petro ahead of the second round of voting last year. The ceasefire is merely a political stunt to divert public attention from an institutional crisis that has marred his administration's credibility.