Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s commitment to transform long-marginalized rural and conflict areas and new peace efforts were the highlights of his first year in office, the U.N. special envoy for the South American country said. But Carlos Ruiz Massieu condemned the killing of nearly 400 former combatants who signed a 2016 peace agreement.
FILE - Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro, from left, Carlos Ruiz Massieu, Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Monsignor Hector Henao and National Liberation Army leader Israel Ramirez, alias Pablo Beltran, attend a ceremony to formally begin a six-month cease-fire as part of a process to forge a permanent peace between the National Liberation Army or ELN, and the government, in Bogota, Colombia, Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023.
“While a great distance still remains to attain the ambitious goals of the agreement in this respect,” he acknowledged “the increasing government efforts under way to bring about these reforms.”New York City mayor wraps up Latin America trip with call for ‘right to work’ for migrants in USThe 2016 peace agreement ended more than 50 years of war in which over 220,000 people died and nearly 6 million people were displaced.
“I wish to underscore the fact that the dialogues which are currently underway with the various groups and armed actors are a fundamental tool to achieve peace throughout the country, and to alleviate the humanitarian impact of the armed and criminal violence,” Leyva said. In early August, the Security Council unanimously authorized the U.N. political mission to help verify implementation of a cease-fire agreement between the government and the country’s largest remaining guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army, known as the ELN.
He cited a recent media report indicating that 40% of ELN members would reject a peace deal with the government “because they continue to see lucrative earnings from drug trafficking and illegal mining.”that it would cease offensive operations against the Colombian military and police and begin a 10-month cease-fire “a positive development.”
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