Havana – The Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group ended another round of talks in Havana with no concrete progress but with the commitment on both sides to keep the dialogue process going.
The third round of exploratory meetings ended Friday, leaving as the only result the repeated “commitment to the spirit and content of the accords, joint communiques and minutes” of the previous meetings held last December and February, also in Havana, and the decision to reintroduce “documents suggested” by civil society guarantors, according to the joint communique.
No progress was made, however, in designing a process or structuring an agenda for possible formal peace talks, the objective both parties had set for this round of talks, after the dialogue table was “stabilized” in February.
Commander Antonio Garcia, the ELN military chief, said at a press conference that they had sought to “reaffirm the progress made up to now,” in questions such as maintaining the recognition of the political status of rebels delegates at the dialogue table.
The government and the ELN have agreed to meet again in Havana at an as yet undisclosed date, “most probably” after the May presidential elections in Colombia, Garcia said.
The ELN, founded in 1964 and with some 5,000 members, is the second largest insurgent group in the country after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
