For now, he added, “that is limited (…) to being one of the guarantor countries of the process to the extent that this that was left in suspensive points is resumed.”
In addition to Chile, Brazil, Cuba, Norway and Venezuela have served as guarantors of the negotiation that the ELN and the new Colombian government are now preparing to take up again.
“Today we would have to ask all those governments if they want, if they want to continue being guarantors of the process that is restarted,” Petro said on Monday.
At the moment there is no date for the parties to sit down to talk.
The Colombian president added that it is also pending to define if Havana will host the negotiations again.
In this regard, he mentioned that Cuba had been affected “very much” by Duque’s decision to disregard the protocols that provided that in the event that the dialogue failed, the rebel negotiators would have guarantees to return to Colombian territory.
On the contrary, he unsuccessfully demanded that the Cuban authorities hand over the delegates to prosecute them for terrorism, which deteriorated relations between the two countries.
“We will know in the weeks to come if these talks continue in Cuba,” Petro said.
After the breakdown of the talks, the ELN increased its foot force from 1,800 to 2,500 combatants and collaborators, according to official estimates.