The Colombian government and the left-wing National Liberation Army (ELN), the country’s largest remaining rebel group, launched new peace talks in neighbouring Venezuela aimed at ending nearly 60 years of conflict.
The push for the talks, which resumed on Monday after they were suspended in 2019, came from Colombia’s new first-ever left-wing President Gustavo Petro, who was a former member of the M-19 rebel movement.
Petro has pledged a less bellicose approach to ending the violence wrought by armed groups, including left-wing armed fighters and drug traffickers.
Representatives of ELN and Petro’s administration met in Venezuela, which restored diplomatic relations with Colombia in August after three years.