Colombia's president announces peace process with FARC dissidents

BOGOTA, Colombia

Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Monday announced the beginning of a peace process with dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerilla group.

"A second peace process begins. A (negotiating) table will be established between the government and the Central General Staff," Petro said on Twitter.

The decision comes after Attorney General Francisco Barbosa Delgado announced the suspension of arrest warrants for 19 dissidents led by Nestor Gregorio Vera Fernandez, alias “Ivan Mordisco,” one of the most important FARC commanders who rejected the 2016 peace deal between the Colombian government and the guerrilla group.

Former FARC members who refused to join the peace deal returned to arms in 2018.

These negotiations mark the beginning of a second peace process between the government and illegal groups in the country.

Talks between the Colombian government and the leftist National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group were resumed in November 2022 after being interrupted in 2019 by former President Ivan Duque a day after the group carried out a bombing at a police academy in Bogota that killed 21 police officers.

Peace talks with the ELN began in 2017 in Ecuador’s capital Quito during the government of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, and in 2018, they were moved to Cuba’s capital Havana.

Petro has promised to work to achieve a “total peace" project which aims to bring together armed groups operating in the country to initiate peace negotiations with all of them to end 60 years of violent conflict.​​​​​​​