Camilo Gonzalez and Otty Patiño hold the fragile peace in Colombia in their hands. Fine connoisseurs of the guerrillas, they were appointed by President Gustavo Petro to put an end to the armed insurrection in the country.
At 76, Camilo Gonzalez will lead the official delegation in the talks with the guerrillas known as the Central Staff (EMC), the main dissidence of the former FARC guerrillas, which did not sign the agreement of peace of 2016.
After the disarmament agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a Marxist guerrilla that emerged from a peasant uprising in 1964, he, as director of the peace think tank Indepaz, painstakingly documented the rise of the EMC.
Otty Patiño, 78, has been the government’s main negotiator since November in peace talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN), the last major guerrilla still active in the country, also born in 1964.
The septuagenarian is himself a former member of the far-left guerrillas M-19 which laid down their arms in 1990 and to which Mr. Petro also belonged in his youth. Like other former members of the armed group, Mr. Patiño participated in the elaboration of the current Colombian Constitution.
In interviews with AFP, the two negotiators discuss their hopes for an end to the conflict. Camilo Gonzalez says he dreams “that with this government, an agreement will be reached” with the EMC. “Colombia has the necessary conditions to put an end to a history of war,” he said.
Gustavo Petro, the first left-wing president in the country’s history, has launched an ambitious plan to negotiate with armed groups in the country, dubbed “total peace”. In a year in power, his government has concluded ceasefires or is negotiating with several guerrillas, paramilitary groups, gangs and drug cartels.
Otty Patiño hopes to put an end to the current “period of suffering” by reaching an agreement with the ELN, a guerrilla group responsible for the assassination of soldiers and civilians despite ongoing negotiations. “It’s terrible, it’s extremely painful (…) We are living in a period of suffering and, of course, it is imperative to reduce this period of suffering,” he said in his calm voice.
Five governments have attempted to achieve peace with the Guevara-inspired group led by 69-year-old Pablo Beltran, but the rapprochements have all failed. “They are old men like us, like me (…) they grew old there, let’s say, with arms”, he underlines.
For his part, Mr. Gonzalez will have to find common ground with young guerrillas clad in flashy jewelry, from drug trafficking, illegal mining and extortion. The main EMC negotiator, a man named Andrey, made his first public appearance this year. “It is a command, let’s say, of the second generation (…) or even of the third generation compared to the founders of the FARC”, underlines Camilo Gonzalez.
Never before has one of the multiple guerrillas operating in Colombia negotiated with a leftist like President Petro. For Otty Patiño, “this is a unique opportunity (…)”. For the first time, the ELN agreed to a six-month ceasefire, in effect since last week.
The ELN “aspires to confidence in this government and in the process itself”, believes Mr. Patiño.
But time is running out, according to the two negotiators. The peace process with the FARC lasted six years and required then-president Juan Manuel Santos, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, to run for a second term, which is not allowed in the country. ‘actual hour. President Petro’s term ends in 2026.
“It is necessary to have results in this government and quickly, but we also know that these negotiations are not express, they are processes of armed conflict and issues that require a certain patience”, concedes Mr. Gonzalez.
The accusations on Tuesday by the General Prosecutor’s Office that the ELN had planned the assassination of Attorney General Francisco Barbosa from Venezuela have thus just shaken the negotiations with the guerrillas, who refuted them on Wednesday, considering that they were aimed at “sabotage the dialogue process”.
08/10/2023 05:36:22 – Bogotá (AFP) – © 2023 AFP