The guerrilla of the National Liberation Army (ELN) has remarked in the framework of the negotiations it has started this Monday in Caracas, Venezuela, with the Colombian Government that among its requests are not to obtain a place in Congress, but rather a structural change.
The leader of the ELN delegation, Israel Ramírez Pineda, alias ‘Pablo Beltrán’, has assured that «this negotiation table must be an instrument of change» and has emphasized that «the important thing» is that the guerrilla «does not ask for anything».
«We take this opportunity to state for the record that the ELN is not asking for anything, that is what is important. Why some have told us ‘how many seats they want in Congress’ and we don’t need them», asserted ‘Pablo Beltrán’.
«We aim for this table to be an instrument of change. The work we have is of reconciliation, of finding common points again, of building a nation in peace and equity», said the guerrilla leader.
«The changes are not automatic, but we all must have a commitment to change, in that sense we are present in Venezuela with an ideal: Colombians cannot see each other as enemies,» he said.
In that sense, ‘Pablo Beltrán’ has expressed that they hope to find an interlocutor on the other side of the table in tune, especially regarding the real problems that hit Colombia, such as poverty and structural inequality.
Pablo Beltrán’ has also had words for the role that the United States should assume in this whole process, hoping «that it will follow up» on what is happening, but above all assume «a proactive attitude».
Finally, he also wanted to thank Venezuela for having hosted the first session of these talks, although at the same time he defended that the venue should be «rotating», so that the other two guarantor countries – Cuba and Norway – could host the rest of the negotiations at any time.
As far as the Government delegation is concerned, the High Commissioner for Peace, Danilo Rueda, stressed that there is «harmony with the ELN peace delegation» and emphasized the «responsibility» it has towards the next generations of the country.
For his part, the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, considered that the beginning of the dialogue between the Colombian State and the guerrillas is «a great message of hope, faith and the dream of Latin America and the Caribbean, to live in a world of peace and stability: The time for peace has come», he assured.
THREE YEARS OF NEGOTIATIONS The Colombian ambassador in Caracas, Armando Benedetti, also referred to this dialogue and stressed the need for the ELN «to understand that this is the only and last moment for the negotiations to move forward».
«Let’s wait and see what happens», said Benedetti in a conversation with RCN. In the microphones of this radio station, the ambassador pointed out that the negotiations could be extended for the next three years, as happened with those held with the disbanded Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Benedetti also wanted to value the work carried out at the beginning by the government of former President Juan Manuel Santos and said that «the most important thing» is that the new delegation in Casa Nariño takes up again what was done then «so that nobody believes that they are inventing something» new.
The Government delegation is led by José Otty Patiño, intellectual and former guerrilla of the April 19 Movement (M-19), who is accompanied by the aforementioned Danilo Rueda, Senator Iván Cepeda and the president of the livestock employers’ association Fedegán, José Félix Lafaurie. As for the ELN, it is known that there are approximately fifteen members of its delegation, which is led by ‘Pablo Beltrán’ and Víctor Orlando Cubides, better known as ‘Aureliano Carbonell’.
