how the negotiation with the farc would change if the eln come in

7/28/2019 How the Negotiation With the FARC Would Change if the ELN Come In

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How the negotiation with the FARC would

change if the ELN come in

By: Juanita León, Wed, 07/03/2013

Translated for La Silla Vacía by Matilda Villarraga

photo

Negotiations with the FARC in Havana have contemplated from the beginning, the possibility that

sooner rather

than

later

the

Eln

join

the

talks.

Photo courtesy of the Presidency.

On 4 July, the guerrillas of the ELN reach 49 years of existence. And aheadof time of that date several episodes have come together: the protests inCatatumbo, the announcement of a strategic union with the FARC and aletter from civil society which will be published on Thursday asking the ELNand the Government to initiate conversations that lead to the end of theconflict. These steps seem coldly calculated for that day to be the last yearthat the guerrillas celebrate their birthday.

On July 1, the ELN and the FARC released two press releases dated in Junein the "Mountains of Colombia" and signed by Timochenko, head of theFARC, and 'Gabino', head of the ELN.

In this release, the commanders express that they have come together toiron out the 'roughness' that led to the two guerrilla groups to confront oneanother in the past and to work together for the "unity of all the political andsocial forces committed to the realization of profound changes in society"and for a peace that spans the whole insurgency.

The second statement, which was not as emphasized by the media as thefirst, is perhaps more significant because both guerrillas recognize that "apolitical solution to the social and armed conflict" is part of their "strategichorizon". And because they reiterate the importance of convening aConstituent Assembly for "facilitating the transition to a society at peace".What's interesting about this release is that the ELN spoke of a ConstituentAssembly as the FARChave suggested and not of their idea of a National



Convention, their battle horse for decades. Thus, it would demonstrate thatthe ELN finally yield to the leadership of the FARC in the negotiation. At theend, they end up invoking the spirit of Chávez, highlighting once again theimportance that Venezuela has for both, perhaps even more for the ELN.

This 'Commanders’ Summit' is given in the context of the revolts of theCatatumbo, which already have lasted more than 20 days. "The Catatumbocreates the conditions for the meeting", a source that knows firsthand theELN said to La Silla. "It marked the meeting between the commanders".

The protests in Catatumbo originate in unfulfilled agreements by the Government, in a rejection to the

eradication of coca and the requirement to declare in the zone a peasant reserve. Although it is a

peasant protest, the FARC, the ELN and the EPL, with presence in the area, have not been immune to

the mobilization.

Photo: Efe The detonator of the Catatumbo In Catatumbo come together the FARC, the ELN and a bastion of the EPL, asexplained by La Silla. The guerrilla of the EPL, which is the smallest of thethree with 60 members, is the group that dominates the finances in thisregion of Norte de Santander, and operates under the command of Megateo.

Megateo is a drug trafficker asdepicted by the authorities, but he is also aguerrilla head with a social and political leadership in the middle area of the

Catatumbo. He buys coca from the farmers, and has established a firm gripon sustainable prices and, as told to La Silla by a source whose informationwe could not corroborate, he has political influence in the region.

The ELN is the second strongest group with 291 members, according toofficial sources, especially in the south of the Catatumbo, and the FARC, withmore intense presence in the North, has 303 members, according to officialdata.

Some people believe that Timochenko, the head of the FARC, holds more jungle area of this region as a home front and that possibly the meeting took

place there, information that was impossible for us to verify.

In any case, three experts consulted by La Silla believe it is no coincidencethat the commanders’ release had coincided with the social uprising inCatatumbo because interests of the two guerrillas come together there andby the time it occurs.



Parallel to these two episodes, the so-called "civil society", composed of former Eln members, academics, members of NGOS, experts on peace andone or another international organization,has been moving for severalmonths so that the Eln joins the ride of negotiations with the FARC.

On the one hand, several of these people have travelled several times in thepast few months to the Bellavista prison where is detained Juan CarlosCuellar, the military command of the Western warfront of the ELN, whichtrashed over the years Valle and Cauca. To this prison have been arrivingalmost all military commanders prisoners of the ELN so it has become anepicenter of important encounter with this guerrilla.

In a meeting of civil society with the Peace Commissioner Sergio Jaramillosome of these people raised the importance of involving this guerrilla in thepeace negotiations. However, a few days later, president Santos in the WarCollege, on police promotion day, said that as long this guerrilla group hadkidnapped the Canadian Jernoc Wobert there would be no rapprochement.

The ELN has not yet released the Canadian. However, last Wednesday in theVice presidency of the Universidad Javeriana several of the same membersof civil society met with Jesuits of the university and wrote a letter that willbe announced on Wednesday. It asks both, the ELN to release the Canadianand to put an end to the kidnappings, and the Government to integrate thisguerrilla in the peace talks, as stated in this letter.

This group is convinced that there will be peace only if incorporates all

guerrillas, and that it is urgent for the ELN to be involved in the Havananegotiations either in a parallel process or at the same table.

Most probably, the ELN will respond to that letter releasing the Canadian,announcing the end of the policy of kidnapping and accepting the invitationto begin negotiations.

The ELN leadership has initiated peace processes with all recent governments. But always at the end it

torpedoed the possibility of advancing.

www.eln‐voces.com

What eachone wins The ELN eventual entry to the peace negotiations could have several effects

http://www.eln-voces.com/







both at the table in Havana, and in different parts of the country as well ason the Colombian leftwing.

As the analyst Leon Valencia said, who campaigned with the ELN for years,the entry of this guerrilla would strengthen the demand for the FARC to

convene a Constituent Assembly.

On the other hand, it would be a way to force the Government to 'open' thenegotiating agenda.

Until now, the government has insisted on continuing on the roadmapdefined in the Framework Agreement agreed between the HighCommissioner for Peace Sergio Jaramillo and guerrilla leader "The Doctor"who gave start to the peace talks.

Any attempt by the FARC to broaden the agenda and to include topics of theeconomic model, for example, has been rejected with the argument that thisis not referred to in the Framework Agreement. The same is with the themeof the Constituent Assembly. The greater argument of the FARC is that thiswould be referred to implicitly in the preamble of the Agreement, which is asomewhat weak argument.

But if the ELN enters the talks they could force the expansion of the agendain two ways: on the one hand, the historical theme of the ELN has been tocombat the mining and oil drilling by the multinationals with the sovereigntyargument on non-renewable natural resources and security, the ELN will ask

that this be included in the bargaining agenda.

On the other, take the path of the National Convention, which would be ameeting between the guerrillas and sectors of society to diagnose theproblems of the country and propose joint solutions, which will serve as abenchmark for subsequent dialog with the Government.

The National Convention -that the ELN has outlined as a pre-constituentscenario - could eventually become a plan B for both the government andthe FARC, because it could comply with the purpose of talking about subjectsthat are not defined in the Framework Agenda but without the binding

nature of the Constituent Assembly, which has become a point of honor forthe Government.

The new alliance between FARC and ELN are also likely to be reflected innew and more frequent social mobilizations as the Catatumbo (where theGovernment claims to have evidence that the FARC and the ELN discussedtogether part of the agenda of the demands of the peasants) and those that

http://www.mamacoca.org/Compendio_regional/ELN.htm

http://www.mamacoca.org/Compendio_regional/ELN.htm



have already occurred in the Cauca, Arauca and the Pacific in the last sixmonths. By the way of enhancing the social mobilization, they seek to pressgains at the negotiating table.

Official figures estimate that the ELN has approximately 1270 combatants

and about two thousand militiamen. However the strength of this guerrilladoes not lie - as happens to the FARC - in their military might. It lies in theirpenetration of the social structures which has been achieved during theirnearly half a century of existence.

Although the criminal actions that have been committed such as theMachuca, coupled with the activities of paramilitary groups in many regionsthat ended with his "broad front", weakened the social and political structurewithin the legality, the ELN retains a good capacity for social mobilizationand coordination with social organizations. Much more than even the Farc,whose main social base are the coca growers.

By joining these two guerrillas, they will be easier to adhere and enhancesocial protest in places like the hills of San Lucas, Arauca, the north of Boyacá, regions of Cauca and Nariño Antioquia and Chocó. Thesemobilizations, as seen in the case of the Cauca and now with the Catatumbo,have a large political impact on the government.

On the other hand, the ELN has more contacts than the FARC with differentsectors of civil society: from the Church to international NGOS, butespecially in several sectors of the left.

If the Eln finally plays a role in a peace negotiation, the Marcha Patriótica willlose the monopoly on the discussions of civil society facing toward Havanaand other groups such as the Congress of the peoples and the Minga willhave more presence in the scenario.

To date, the Government has not responded to the releases of the ELN andit remains to be seen if it refers to the letter of July 4 of the civil society,assuming that the guerrillas finally release the kidnapped Canadian.

The Government is aware that putting an end to the armed conflict happens

to integrate all the guerrillas in the negotiation and that if the ELN enters, itwill bring also the EPL. In fact, in the exploratory phase in the beginning theFarc seemed to be speaking also on behalf of the Eln but then they tookthem out of the 'key holder'. In any case, it explicitly left the door open forthem to enter.



Now, and especially with the uncertainty created by the transition and thepolarization in Venezuela after the death of Chávez, time is running evenfaster against the ELN. This guerrilla is famous for always startingnegotiations and never be able to take the final step. What will they do now?

Editor's Note: after this story was published, we added the official data onthe number of guerrillas by group in Catatumbo.

how the negotiation with the farc would change if the eln come in

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