Talks between the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (known by its Spanish abbreviation, ELN) are resuming after three years.
The talks being held in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, are bringing an end to the ELN’s nearly 60-year guerrilla campaign.
The talks come after the election of Gustavo Petro earlier this year. He is Colombia’s first left-wing president, and is himself a former guerrilla.
Colombia has for many years struggled with guerrilla movements of various ideological persuasions, which opposed the government and were often driven by common criminality rather than any ideological conviction.
In recent years, many of these guerrilla movements (notably FARC) have agreed to ceasefires with the government. However, talks with the ELN were called off in 2019 after the group bombed a police academy in the capital, Bogota, killing over 20 people.
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