Colombia

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said that “time for peace has arrived” as dignitaries from the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas started their ceasefire talks in Caracas Monday.

Colombia’s Congress on Wednesday approved a law to allow president Gustavo Petro to seek peace deals with leftist rebels and criminal groups tied to drug trafficking via negotiations and processes of surrender.

Colombia’s Congress approved a bill that allows President Gustavo Petro to negotiate the dismantling of illegal armed groups. The bill gives Petro congressional support for his ambitious “Total Peace” policy, which seeks to reduce violence caused by illegal armed groups and organized crime.

The resolution targets those supporting or financing violence, kidnapping, sexual violence, arms or drug sales, people trafficking and the recruitment of children into gangs. Those obstructing the delivery and distribution of humanitarian aid can also be sanctioned. Haiti’s government supports the measures.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said on Thursday that the area growing coca in Colombia shot up 43 percent from 2020, to 204,000 hectares (500,000 acres) in 2021.

Colombia is experiencing a period of new expectations due to the total peace policy of newly elected President Gustavo Petro, anchored in the implementation of the Final Agreement with the former Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia‑Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP), the Special Representative for the country told the Security Council today.

Delegates of Colombia's government and the nation's largest remaining guerrilla group met on Tuesday and announced that they will restart peace talks that were suspended in 2018.

At least 10 armed groups in Colombia, including former members of the FARC rebels who reject a peace deal and the Clan del Golfo crime gang, have agreed to participate in unilateral ceasefires, the government said on Wednesday.

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Guerrilla leader Ivan Marquez, who initially signed a peace deal with the state before taking up arms again three years later, has said he is ready to negotiate once again, a top government official said on Thursday.