By Alfonso Fernandez |
Mexico City (EFE).- A week after the conclusion of a new phase of the peace talks between the guerrillas and the Government of Colombia in Mexico, the commander of the National Liberation Army (ELN), Pablo Beltrán, speaks at a interview with EFE about the expectations generated for a ceasefire and the relations of trust with the government of Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
Beltrán, 69, speaks slowly as he enjoys the first coffee of the day at the talks headquarters in southern Mexico City.
Question: What does it mean to be negotiating as the last armed guerrilla in Latin America?
Answer: A very big responsibility. Various parts of America and even other parts of the world say: Eye, do things well. We have many eyes on us. There is a famous national writer, William Ospina, who says that it has become a custom in Colombia that peace was reduced to demobilizing a guerrilla, blaming them for everything that happened, and nothing changes. Not repeating that script is a very important challenge.
Question: And the fact of negotiating with the first left-wing government in Colombia? Does it make it simpler or more complex?
Answer: Unpublished, because it is a mixture. They are a progressive government with which we have many coincidences in the terms and the urgency and priority of seeking peace. But, in turn, they represent a state in which many elements of the old regime still weigh heavily. It is a mixture. And dealing with that kind of delegation is more demanding.
There are topics in which they themselves have contradictions, and one realizes that they have a low level of resolution. That is why I imagine that the head of the government delegation will have to throw a middle line and that is the one that leads the table.
Question: What seems clear is the different level of urgency, haste of the parties. More patience on the side of the ELN, more speed on the side of the government. How does this issue affect the dialogues?
Answer: There is a very simple phrase that summarizes what guides this time desynchrony. We must act quickly but rigorously. Sometimes the government is in the rush of any government. He barely has a four-year watch. But it turns out that, in addition, in the transition that Colombia is experiencing, the government is urgent to show results, and the sectors, let’s say less friendly to the changes, are urgent not to let them advance. It is a pulse that hits the table.
“We have raised the levels of trust”
Question: Have the tensions already eased over President Petro’s famous tweet that a bilateral ceasefire had been agreed upon, denied by the ELN?
Answer: Yes, we spoke, and we told him that the ELN complies with what it agrees to and signs. What we have not discussed and agreed to does not cover us. There is a set of agreements that must be fulfilled. That first crisis served and we have raised confidence levels.
Question: Can a ceasefire come out of the talks in Mexico?
Answer: The ceasefire has a big problem. First, the art is in saying what is prohibited and what is not. We have an agreement that this has to be a transition. We are proving that we are complying, and we are building trust. We aspire that in this cycle in Mexico we can at least mend the essence of what a ceasefire is. Not just an agreement, but the idea that each party should put on the table what the essential elements are, and on that have a first package of consensus.
Question: So the pace is still leisurely.
Answer: (Smiles) So that it is well done.
Question: This week a Colombian police report came out warning about the possibility of attacks by the ELN.
Answer: That’s a bad move. We already know who spread it, now we are looking at who did it. They took a document that is internally oriented, and from that they selected elements and added other lurid things. And with that they made a mixture that they are selling. This is very customary for certain Colombian intelligence agencies. I have told them at the table: that is creating panic. Be careful with that.
Question: And what is the objective? Sabotage?
Answer: Of course. Create a bad atmosphere at the table. In Colombia, a term was coined in one of the first peace processes. It was said that there are always enemies crouching on the table.
Prompt release of soldier Danilo Bravo
Question: In the Caracas round, humanitarian relief was agreed upon. What exactly are they and how did they materialize?
Answer: The peace negotiations cannot wait until they are finished to give the people a result. We are working on the basis of partial agreements that bring relief to the people and be implemented immediately. A humanitarian caravan was made in the Pacific.
Efforts are being made to establish a humanitarian alert mechanism. Leaders of the area, representatives of the Church and representatives of the international community and would have communication with the forces in the area. It is not a stoppage, but it is a mechanism to alleviate people’s lives and work while there is a stoppage. The idea is to take it to other regions. We want to do this pilot point well so that we can replicate it elsewhere.
Question: During these days, the soldier Danilo Bravo was kidnapped in Arauca, something that President Petro described as an act that hinders the conversations.
Answer: We have spoken with the government delegation. We have explained to them that it is our custom that military personnel who are in civilian clothes, doing espionage work, we detain them. They are interrogated, it is a brief retention and a humanitarian commission is called and they are handed over. We have done that thousands of times. That means respect for people’s lives, but at the same time we have to take defense measures. He will soon be released.
Question: You have said that the ELN is not going to take offensive measures. Is that guaranteed?
Answer: We do not have any offensive desire at this time. There will be defensive stuff where needed.
Removal from the list of terrorist groups in the EU
Question: Has the removal of the ELN from the list of terrorist groups of the European Union been discussed, now that Spain also participates as an accompanying country?
Answer: We have already put this point on the table. And they were left to seek an answer (…) It is very important that Spain now begins to preside over the EU in the middle of the year, and we think that the request is in good hands. It is very important to us that we are not on that list.
Question: What are the expectations for the end of the cycle of talks in Mexico?
Answer: We are determined that the table advance despite the crouching enemies, but also being aware that the government is under fire for many situations, it is a transitional government, so to speak, and that imposes some impacts on the table. If you maintain the decision and the political will, I believe that a good agreement can be reached with this government.