Government of Colombia and ELN sign agreement on social participation in peacebuilding

Published at: 25/05/2024 07:12 PM

This Saturday, May 25, the Government of Colombia and the National Liberation Army (ELN) signed, in Caracas, Venezuela, the first point of the peace accords: The participation of society in the construction of peace.

Manuela Marquez, Delegate of the ELN and Rodrigo Botero, Delegate of the Government of Colombia, jointly read the agreement document, which states that “peace in Colombia requires all voices, all peoples, communities, individuals and processes.”

They also ratified their intention to comply with the agreements of the negotiating agenda and to carry out comprehensive transformations to overcome the armed conflict and invited the people to join democratic participation and thus contribute to peace with transformations.

At the same time, the parties demanded that the United States Government remove Cuba from the list of States sponsors of terrorism.

In addition, they rejected any country being subject to sanctions for hosting a peace dialogue, being zealous with that commitment and guaranteeing the integrity of the negotiators.

For his part, the chief negotiator of the ELN, Pablo Beltrán, explained that the dialogue table wants to contribute to the changes that are urgent in Colombia, and invited people to express their opinions, consider how to solve the country's challenges and commit to the changes.

Beltrán stressed the importance of a great social and political alliance, of seeking a great national agreement. “The best thing that serves Colombian society is that we follow this path of change by talking, talking, agreeing, complying with and committing to changes.”

Those attending the meeting thanked Venezuela for its hospitality and decisive support with this process, “thanks to your support, this first agreement on Society Participation was signed”.

Mazo News Team