In another blow to President Gustavo Petro's efforts to achieve "Total Peace" in Colombia, the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels announced on Thursday that they are "freezing" peace talks with the government that are scheduled for later this month. However, the rebel group stated that they will attend an extraordinary meeting scheduled for Friday.

Petro has restarted talks with the rebels in 2022 to fulfill a campaign promise to end Colombia's six-decade conflict, which has killed at least 450,000 people already. This "freeze" in the talks is the latest setback to Petro as the many rebel groups in Colombia continue to attack government positions and harass civilians even though there was a ceasefire.

The ELN announced that the suspension was due to "government insistence in carrying out a demobilization operation in Narino against the ELN." According to Reuters, the rebel group was referring to the regional talks with one of its factions, with the talks taking place in the southwestern province of Narino.

These parallel talks were "contrary to the fair play and good faith which should characterize negotiations," the rebel group argued. They had objected to similar talks with the Narino communities earlier this year.

"It is necessary not to lose time," warned the Colombian government's negotiating team in its own statement, adding that it was imperative that the work at the negotiating table moves ahead. They added, "The dire situation that people living in the provinces of Arauca, Choco, and Narino are confronting must also be attended to."

Reuters noted that the government has defended the community in those areas and that the "ELN is unnecessarily prolonging negotiations."

The Troubled Negotiations Between the Colombia Government and the ELN Rebels

The negotiations themselves have been hampered by a lot of troubles, with the ELN accusing the Colombian government of violating a previously agreed-upon ceasefire in the Narino conflict by disarming and disbanding the group's organization there.

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"The decisions unilaterally taken by the ELN are their complete responsibility, and they generate unnecessary crises that prolong the armed confrontation and the violence that communities suffer, as well as weakening society's confidence in (the rebels') will for peace," the government shot back, according to Atlas News.

The ELN is the last major leftist group in Colombia left after the FARC surrendered. However, Atlas News pointed out that with this latest setback, it "remains unknown whether peaceful disarmament is possible for the armed groups within Colombia."

Rebel Groups Using Amazon Rainforest Deforestation as a Bargaining Chip With Colombia Government

The ELN is not the only target of the Petro administration's "Total Peace" initiative, but also the many other minor armed groups still fighting across Colombia. These armed groups are holed up in some of the country's most remote areas, including the Amazon rainforest.

A report by The Guardian noted that the deforestation in the Colombian Amazon is surging and could be at a historic peak, and one of the reasons is that armed groups are using it as a bargaining chip with the government.

"We are seeing an upward trend that is quite worrying and this has two main reasons," Colombia Environment Minister Susana Muhammad told the outlet, "The first is the very significant coercion [of local people] by armed groups in the area, and the second is obviously the favourable conditions [for fires] that have to do with the El Niño phenomenon."

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This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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