COLOMBIA
Elusive Peace
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos suspended talks with Colombia’s last-standing guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), on Monday after three attacks killed seven policemen and injured 50.
The president said the talks would remain suspended “until I see coherence between their words and actions,” according to Colombia Reports. ELN said the attacks would continue until there is an agreement on a bilateral ceasefire.
The talks had resumed briefly at the urging of the United Nations following a similar stalemate. The government and ELN have engaged in on-again, off-again negotiations since February 2017 to end a five-decade war, the Guardian noted.
Meanwhile, peace talks with the larger Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have borne fruit. The rebels have demobilized and turned to politics, with former leader Rodrigo Londoño declaring his candidacy in the May 27 presidential election this week, NPR reported.
The FARC will be participating in elections for the first time since it was founded in the 1960s.
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