International

Colombia resumes talks with powerful ELN guerrilla group

Photo: Yuri Cortez / AFP

| By AFP |

Colombia’s government and the National Liberation Army (ELN), the last recognized rebel group in the country, resumed formal peace talks in Venezuela Monday for the first time since they were suspended in 2019.

The talks are a push by President Gustavo Petro, who in August became Colombia’s first-ever leftist leader, and has vowed a less bellicose approach to ending violence wrought by armed groups, including leftist guerrillas and drug traffickers.

In their first meeting, the parties agreed to “resume the dialogue process with full political and ethical will,” according to a joint statement.

They added that the talks aim to “build peace” and make “tangible, urgent, and necessary” changes, highlighting the need for “permanent compromises.”

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The first round of talks will last 20 days.

Colombia has suffered more than half a century of armed conflict between the state and various groups of left-wing guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries and drug traffickers.

The ELN started as a leftist ideological movement in 1964 before turning to crime, focusing on kidnapping, extortion, attacks and drug trafficking in Colombia and neighboring Venezuela.

It has around 2,500 members, about 700 more than it did when negotiations were last broken off. The group is primarily active in the Pacific region and along the 2,200-kilometer (1,370-mile) border with Venezuela.

Dialogue with the group started in 2016 under ex-president Juan Manuel Santos, who signed a peace treaty with the larger Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group that subsequently abandoned its weapons and created a political party.

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But the talks with the ELN were called off in 2019 by conservative former president Ivan Duque following a car bomb attack on a police academy in Bogota that left 22 people dead.

Petro — himself a former guerrilla — reached out to the ELN shortly after coming to power, as part of his “total peace” policy.

The ELN peace talks delegation spent four years based in Cuba, as they had been barred from returning to Colombia by the previous government.

They traveled to Venezuela last month, where the fresh round of talks was announced.

Colombian Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez warned that the negotiations do not imply a “suspension of operations” against the ELN.

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“If there is an encounter with someone who has an arrest warrant, they must be captured… There is no ceasefire,” he said.

‘We all have to change’

Colombian peace commissioner Ivan Danilo Rueda hailed a “historic moment” for the country after the meeting.

“We are here honoring life, the lives of so many beings who are no longer here,” Rueda said. “Murdered, disappeared.”

ELN delegate Pablo Beltran said he hoped the dialogue would be “an instrument of change… and we hope we won’t fail.”

“In Colombia, we all have to change” and “overcome the dynamic of death,” he said.

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Caracas is hosting the first meeting, and the talks will rotate between the other guarantors Cuba and Norway.

A statement from the guarantor nations said Monday’s meeting was “an important step to achieve peace.”

UN chief Antonio Guterres’s special envoy in Colombia, Carlos Ruiz Massieu, called on “the parties and Colombian society to take advantage of this historic opportunity.”

“I reiterate the support of the Secretary General @antonioguterres to this process,” he wrote on Twitter.

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro hailed the process as “a message of hope for a peaceful Latin America and Caribbean,” at a rally in the capital.

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International

Maradona’s daughter accuses medical team of “horrible manipulation” in court

One of the daughters of Diego Maradona testified in court this Tuesday, breaking down in tears as she denounced what she described as “absolute and horrible manipulation” by her father’s medical team, during an emotional hearing in Argentina.

Gianinna Maradona stated that she and her siblings agreed to home hospitalization after doctors presented it as the best option following the neurosurgery Maradona underwent on November 3, 2020.

The football icon died on November 25 of that year, and the ongoing trial seeks to determine whether the conditions of his home care were appropriate.

According to Gianinna, what the family found at the residence where Maradona was recovering did not match what had been promised. She testified that there was no adequate medical equipment, constant monitoring, or even an ambulance available, despite assurances of continuous care.

“The manipulation was absolute and horrible,” she said during the hearing in San Isidro, near Buenos Aires.

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She accused members of the medical team, including neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, and psychologist Carlos Díaz, of misleading the family.

“I trusted these people, and all they did was manipulate us and leave my son without a grandfather,” she added.

Later in her testimony, recalling that six years have passed since her father’s death, she became emotional and said she struggled deeply with grief in the aftermath.

International

Trump extends Iran ceasefire after Pakistan mediation request

The president of the United States, Donald Trump, announced on Tuesday that he will extend the ceasefire with Iran, which was set to expire on Wednesday, following a request from Pakistan.

In a statement shared on Truth Social, Trump said the truce will remain in place until Iran presents a proposal and negotiations are concluded, regardless of the outcome.

“I will extend the ceasefire until their proposal is presented and negotiations are completed, whatever the result,” the U.S. leader stated.

Trump justified the decision by claiming that Iran’s government is “deeply divided” and noting that Pakistani authorities, acting as mediators, requested a pause in military action until Iranian leaders and representatives submit a unified proposal.

International

Venezuelan opposition demands election date and minimum wage increase

A group of opposition members from the Zulia Humana and former political prisoners on Tuesday demanded that authorities set a date for elections in Venezuela and increase the minimum wage, which has been frozen since 2022 and is currently worth just a few cents per month according to the Banco Central de Venezuela.

During a press conference in Maracaibo, Professor Eduardo Labrador stressed the urgency of establishing an electoral timeline. “We demand that a date be set for elections so Venezuelans can have free and transparent voting. It is essential to have that date now,” he said.

Economist Rodrigo Cabezas, who served under the late President Hugo Chávez, also called for an increase in the minimum wage, arguing that it is feasible through economic policy measures, although he did not specify an amount due to limited public data.

Cabezas warned that Venezuela experienced “galloping inflation” between March of last year and March 2026, a stage that precedes hyperinflation—a phenomenon the country has already faced. However, he clarified that Venezuela is not currently in hyperinflation, expressing hope that it will not return.