Colombian President offers multilateral ceasefire to armed groups

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
28 Aug 2022 10:25

Colombia’s first leftist leader announces the initiative during a visit to Ituango, a municipality in Antioquia's insurgency-plagued northwestern department.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro

Newly-elected Colombian President Gustavo Petro suggested a multilateral ceasefire on Saturday to all armed groups operating in the country in an effort to endorse peace and end decades of internal conflict.

Petro assumed office on August 7 and was a member of the M-19 insurgency - a militant faction that participated in the internal armed conflict between 1974-1990.

"As of today, #Colombia is changing."
Who is #GustavoPetro, Colombia's first leftist president? pic.twitter.com/3uEf78im2I
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Colombia’s first leftist leader publicized the initiative during a visit to Ituango, a municipality in Antioquia's insurgency-plagued northwestern department.

Various irregular armed organizations have expressed their desire to end the conflict, according to Petro. The President stressed that a cease-fire would provide "the most appropriate climate to achieve the societal strength required to legitimize a definitive end to armed violence."

Petro, a 62-year-old economist and former congressman, intends to pursue "total peace" in the country, which includes resuming talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN), a Marxist-Leninist guerrilla group that has been involved in the liberation of Colombia from US imperialism since 1964.

The Colombian President announced last week that he is suspending arrest warrants and extradition requests for members of the National Liberation Army.

Petro's strategy includes talks with dissident factions in addition to legal talks with drug-trafficking gangs like the Golf Clan.

According to a Human Rights Watch report, fighting as well as threats from armed groups forced over 4,000 people to flee Ituango in July last year.

It is worth noting that Colombia’s armed conflict lasted nearly six decades and killed at least 450,000 people, the majority of whom were civilians, between 1985 and 2018.

On his account, Colombia's Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez announced this week that aerial bombardments against illegal armed groups in the midst of the internal conflict will be suspended to avoid collateral damage to civilians, the death of forcibly recruited minors, and as a gesture toward complete peace.