2023-07-15 20:17:38
Are the illegal armed groups eager to sign a peace agreement before the end of Gustavo Petro’s government? It seems that the ELN managers are not very concerned about the time limit, but the peace delegates with the criminal gangs of Valle de Aburrá are afflicted by this situation.
This was one of the reflections that emerged during an open session on dialogues with armed organizations, convened by the Antioquia Peace Council and the Medellín Peace Council, held yesterday in the Paisa capital.
With an audience made up mostly of representatives of the victims of the armed conflict, the event was attended by two ELN peace managers: Tulio Astudillo, also known as “Carlos Cuéllar”, a member of the National Directorate of that guerrilla; and Violeta Arango, the sociologist prosecuted for the bomb that killed three women at CC Andino in Bogotá (2017).
When addressing the issue of the challenges that the dialogue table had to meet its objectives, the issue of timing was raised. “The government can have a lot of efforts, but for us that is not the priority, because something that is done without due process is not going to go well,” Arango explained.
And he added: “In addition, if we accepted that rule that you have to sign before the end of the four years of Petro’s government, it would mean that there will be no continuity in the next one. One of the great challenges is how we generate this scenario of continuity, not only in a scenario of dialogue, but of possible implementation. We do not consider that time is the variable that should condition us”.
For his part, “Carlos Cuéllar” pointed out that “for us time is important, but also rigor. We want to advance a process in which the fundamental challenges of the country are addressed, which have to do with the necessary transformations to advance in a political solution and solve the problem of the armed forces”.
Three government delegates also participated in the open session at the dialogue table with the criminal gangs of the Aburrá Valley: Jorge Mejía, Lucía González and Gisela Quintero.
At the beginning of his speech, Mejía referred to this point. “I believe that there is a desire, we cannot allow this conflict to continue per sécula seculorum. We have to take advantage of this quarter of an hour, having Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez in the Government, with their progressive spirit. That is something that is not going to be repeated every four years. It is necessary to take advantage of the quarter of an hour to dismantle these illegal groups through dialogue”.
The former Truth Commissioner, Lucía González, went further, and stated that “we do believe that it is essential that in this Government, at least, that total peace be anchored. If this peace does not prosper, we will have governments of repression, of the extreme right”.
And he recalled that in a conversation with Gustavo Petro, before the presidential inauguration, he expressed his concerns regarding the duration of the conversations with the armed groups. He “said that if they did not prosper, there would be a reading of failure of the Government and a retaking of power by the right”.
But why is there a perception that the talks with the ELN could last a long time, before they are finally signed?
During their presentation, the managers of that guerrilla insisted that one of the most important points for the organization, even above the delivery of weapons, is the involvement of civil society in the talks.
According to “Carlos Cuéllar”, they are currently in the design stage of this participation mechanism, for which workshops will be held in “nine national territories and 12 regional sectors”, in which they will listen to civil organizations, academia and the society in general.
The idea of the subversives with the peace table “is to generate great social transformations, in the economic and political model of the country, and in the face of the environmental crisis,” Violeta Arango asserted.
Several of the attendees classified this proposal as “quite ambitious”, and that it may not be ready before the change of government.
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ANNEX: WHAT IS THE TABLE ABOUT WITH THE BANDS OF THE ABURRÁ VALLEY?
Jorge Mejía Martínez, coordinator of the National Government delegation at the dialogue table with the criminal gangs of Valle de Aburrá, spoke about the progress in this process, since its official installation on June 2.
According to him, in these 40 days of work in the Itagüí prison, where the 17 spokesmen for the gangs are being held, a working protocol was achieved to resolve logistical aspects of the roundtable and possible conflicts that may arise in the future.
There is still no defined thematic agenda to be discussed in the talks, nor have progress and evaluation times been set.
It must be remembered that this project would be the model to install the next tables with the urban gangs of Buenaventura (Valle) and Quibdó (Chocó).
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