A Christmas truce? The largest group of combatants that did not accept the peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in 2016, declared a unilateral ceasefire until January 2, the office of the Colombian High Commissioner for Peace announced this Saturday.
“Listening to the communities and organizational processes, the EMC (General Staff of) the FARC declares a unilateral ceasefire until January 2, 2023,” the High Commissioner for Peace wrote on Twitter.
This week, the National Liberation Army (ELN) announced a truce, while peace negotiations with the Colombian government were underway in Caracas. The two organizations have promised to cease attacks against the public forces until January 2.
Other ceasefires committed
According to Colombian President Gustavo Petro, other illegal organizations, such as the dissident FARC Segunda Marquetalia, paramilitaries from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (north) and gangs from the port of Buenaventura, the largest in the Pacific, also declared a ceasefire. .
“We hope that true peace processes are consolidated,” Gustavo Petro wrote on Twitter.
The armed conflict continues in Colombia despite the dissolution of the FARC. In September, the commissioner for peace, Danilo Rueda, had met in the department of Caquetá (south) with delegates from the EMC of the FARC to explore the possibility of negotiating.
According to him, the former number two of the ex-FARC and peace negotiator in Havana, Iván Márquez, leader of the Segunda Marquetalia, would also be interested in participating in the peace talks proposed by Gustavo Petro, the first left-wing president of Colombia.
Source: BFM TV
