Connect with us

International

Colombia government weakened by ‘truce’ mishap: analysts

Photo: AFP

January 6th | By AFP |

In announcing a “bilateral” ceasefire before it existed, Colombian President Gustavo Petro may have weakened his government in ongoing peace talks with armed groups, experts say.

Petro’s New Year’s Eve declaration was hailed by the United Nations and others as a step towards the “total peace” Colombia’s first-ever leftist president has vowed to bring to the country.

But the ELN guerrilla group poured cold water all over Petro’s declaration just three days later, denying the group had entered into any such deal, and the government conceded that nothing was signed.

Whether a calculated ploy to pile pressure on the ELN or mere miscommunication, Petro’s move was a “mistake” that harmed “the legitimacy of the peace negotiations,” conflict expert Laura Barrios of Rosario University told AFP.

Advertisement
20240920_mh_amnistia_fiscal_728x90
20240813_lechematerna_728x91
20240701_vacunacion_728x90
20231124_etesal_728x90_1
domfuturo_netview-728x90
20240604_dom_728x90
20230816_dgs_728x90
20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90
CEL
previous arrow
next arrow

“The biggest challenge here will be how the government will regain the trust of the ELN,” she said.

For analyst Felipe Botero of the University of The Andes in Bogota, the events “revealed inexperience and political clumsiness.”

It was a “setback for the government,” said Botero, but would not necessarily compromise the talks themselves.

‘Renewed hope’

On December 31, Petro announced that a ceasefire had been agreed with the country’s five largest armed groups, including the National Liberation Army (ELN), from January 1 to June 30.

The government subsequently said the ceasefire would be monitored by the United Nations, Colombia’s human rights ombudsman and the Catholic Church.

Advertisement
20240920_mh_amnistia_fiscal_728x90
20240813_lechematerna_728x91
20240701_vacunacion_728x90
20231124_etesal_728x90_1
domfuturo_netview-728x90
20240604_dom_728x90
20230816_dgs_728x90
20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90
CEL
previous arrow
next arrow

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the supposed deal brought “renewed hope for comprehensive peace to the Colombian people as the New Year dawns.”

But then on Tuesday, the ELN said it had “not discussed any bilateral ceasefire with the Gustavo Petro government, therefore no such agreement exists.”

The group added that “a unilateral government decree cannot be accepted as an agreement.”

This prompted the government to concede Tuesday that a proposed ceasefire decree had not been signed, and the following day to announce a suspension of a truce that never existed in the first place.

Petro, an active social media user, has been quiet in recent days.

Advertisement
20240920_mh_amnistia_fiscal_728x90
20240813_lechematerna_728x91
20240701_vacunacion_728x90
20231124_etesal_728x90_1
domfuturo_netview-728x90
20240604_dom_728x90
20230816_dgs_728x90
20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90
CEL
previous arrow
next arrow

‘More expensive’

Both the government and ELN have said the question of a ceasefire will be raised again in Mexico when talks resume later this month.

Negotiations between the government and the ELN, the country’s last recognized rebel group, have been underway since November.

A first round of peace talks since Petro came to power in August concluded in Caracas, Venezuela on December 12 without a truce being agreed.

The ELN has already accused Petro of acting just like former “traditional governments” with which previous attempts at peace negotiations had failed.

Political commentator Andres Mejia Vergnaud said a ceasefire agreement has just become “more expensive.”

Advertisement
20240920_mh_amnistia_fiscal_728x90
20240813_lechematerna_728x91
20240701_vacunacion_728x90
20231124_etesal_728x90_1
domfuturo_netview-728x90
20240604_dom_728x90
20230816_dgs_728x90
20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90
CEL
previous arrow
next arrow

“The government needs it a lot more, and the other side will get more in return,” he said.

Petro’s announcement had also included two dissident splinter factions of the disbanded FARC guerrilla group, the Gulf Clan narcotics outfit and the Self-Defense Forces of the Sierra Nevada, a right-wing paramilitary group.

The ELN, which has an estimated 3,500 members, is the only group to have refuted the existence of a truce, though the others will be watching closely what happens next.

“We can imagine a scenario in which these actors say ‘look at what they’ve done with the ELN, we’d better take a break,’” in negotiations, said Barrios.

‘Lies’

Colombia’s right-wing opposition, still reeling from electoral defeat last year, has meanwhile jumped on Petro’s apparent misstep.

Advertisement
20240920_mh_amnistia_fiscal_728x90
20240813_lechematerna_728x91
20240701_vacunacion_728x90
20231124_etesal_728x90_1
domfuturo_netview-728x90
20240604_dom_728x90
20230816_dgs_728x90
20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90
CEL
previous arrow
next arrow

Petro’s “lies put Colombians in danger,” charged Senator Miguel Uribe of the Democratic Center party.

For his part, defeated conservative presidential candidate Federico “Fico” Gutierrez said Petro’s announcement of something that was “not true” was a blow for security in a country in the grip of decades of violence.

“The most serious aspect of this is that the government has manacled the security forces and the civilian population is defenseless,” tweeted Gutierrez. “This is delivering the country to criminal groups.”

For Leon Valencia, director of the Peace and Reconciliation Foundation think tank, the apparent blunder has given the opposition a “huge” opening for hammering the executive.

“The opposition can say with reason that ‘these people are very disorganized, they are not on the same page,’ and that harms the image of the government,” he said.

Advertisement
20240920_mh_amnistia_fiscal_728x90
20240813_lechematerna_728x91
20240701_vacunacion_728x90
20231124_etesal_728x90_1
domfuturo_netview-728x90
20240604_dom_728x90
20230816_dgs_728x90
20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90
CEL
previous arrow
next arrow
Continue Reading
Advertisement
20240920_mh_amnistia_fiscal_300x250
20240813_lechematerna_300x200_1
20240813_lechematerna_300x200_2
20240701_vacunacion_300x250
20231124_etesal_300x250_1
20230816_dgs_300x250
20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_300X250
MARN1

International

Pope Francis meets former Gaza hostages

Pope Francis met on Thursday at the Vatican with 16 Israelis who had been held hostage in Gaza for months by the Islamist group Hamas, according to the official Vatican news website.

The group consisted of ten women, four men, and two children, as reported by the same source. Several of the former hostages showed the Argentine pontiff banners or photos of their loved ones who remain in captivity.

Francis had previously met with the families of hostages in April this year and November 2023, but this was the first time he had met with individuals who had personally endured captivity.

Since the conflict between Israel and Hamas began, the pope has repeatedly called for the immediate release of Israeli hostages, while also condemning the suffering of the Palestinian population.

The war erupted on October 7, 2023, when Islamist militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,206 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures that include hostages who died in captivity.

Of the kidnapped, 97 are still being held in Gaza, but the Israeli military estimates that 34 of them have died.

The military offensive launched by Israel in response has killed at least 43,736 people in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Health in the Hamas-governed territory.

Continue Reading

International

Israeli airstrikes on Damascus kill 15 and injure 16, including women and children

Israeli forces carried out airstrikes on residential buildings in the Syrian capital, Damascus, and its surroundings on Thursday, resulting in at least 15 deaths and 16 injuries, according to Syria’s Ministry of Defense and state television.

The ministry stated that around 3:20 p.m. local time (12:20 GMT), the Israeli military launched an aerial attack from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights, targeting several residential buildings in the Mazzeh neighborhood in western Damascus and the Qudsaya suburb to the northwest of the capital.

The airstrikes “resulted in the death of 15 people and injuries to 16 others, including women and children,” based on initial estimates, in addition to significant damage to private property and civilian buildings, the ministry added.

Meanwhile, state television reported Israeli airstrikes on three buildings in Mazzeh and another on a building in an educational complex located in a residential area of Qudsaya.

Following the strikes, loud explosions were heard throughout the city, and thick plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the targeted locations. Ambulances and emergency services rushed to the scene to attend to the victims.

Continue Reading

International

Drug trafficker dies after boat collision with Guardia Civil Vessel in Sanlúca

Three people were on the boat that collided with a Guardia Civil vessel around midnight at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, near the Andalusian city of Cádiz, a spokesperson for the Civil Guard reported.

Two officers sustained “contusions,” the spokesperson explained.

The drug traffickers managed to bring the boat to shore, where one of them was “abandoned” severely injured. The other two fled.

The Civil Guard officers attempted to resuscitate the victim before transporting him to Sanlúcar de Barrameda, but he ultimately died early in the morning.

The other two suspects took advantage of the officers’ absence while they were taking the victim and returned to set their boat on fire.

The collision occurred very close to the site of another accident on September 1, where a drug trafficker died following a Guardia Civil pursuit.

The suspects’ boat traveled “400 meters” before crashing head-on and “at full speed” into the riverbank, where a hundred bundles of hashish were found.

Continue Reading

Trending

Central News