Caracas, Aug 10 (Representative) Venezuela has expressed deep concern about attempts to undermine the peace process between the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebel group, following the statement of Colombia’s attorney general’s office that an attempt on Attorney General Francisco Barbosa Delgado is being prepared in Venezuela, and rejected the possibility of such use of its national territory, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. “The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela expresses its deep concern over the scandalous information distributed today by certain circles that seek to undermine the peace process currently underway in the Republic of Colombia. Given the series of rumors circulating in Colombia with dubious intentions and attempts to build a matrix of opinions about the use of our territory to create instability and terrorist actions, an exhaustive and transparent investigation has been ordered that will establish the truth”, the ministry said. The ministry added that Caracas calls all parties of the peace process in Colombia, as well as guarantor countries and organizations on the negotiations between the Colombian government and the ELN, “to continue to fulfil the commitments made under the plan for universal peace and to foil any attempt to sabotage it, and to reject any attempts to suggest that our territory is being used for these implausible plans.”
The office of Colombia’s attorney general said Tuesday, citing intelligence sources, that five senior ELN commanders met in Venezuela in July, where a group for a sniper attack on the attorney general was being prepared under the leadership of an ELN urban front leader, alias El Rolo. In early July, the government of Colombia issued a decree for a temporary ceasefire with the ELN from August 3, 2023, until January 29, 2024. The decree was followed by a similar announcement from the ELN, which said a complete cessation of offensive and reconnaissance activities will be respected from July 6 to August 3, a period that is preparatory before the 180-day truce with the government agreed upon in June. The 180-day ceasefire was reached by the government of Colombia and the ELN in early June during talks in Cuba. The next round of peace negotiations between the sides is planned to be held in Venezuela from August 14 to September 3. The radical left ELN consists of several thousand people and is the second largest armed rebel organization in Colombia after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Colombia, the United States and the European Union designated the ELN as a terrorist organization. The negotiation process between the government of Colombia and the ELN was launched in 2016 but stopped two years later. New rounds of negotiations between the parties were held in November-December 2022 and in March 2023 after Gustavo Petro was sworn in as the country’s president. Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela and Norway act as guarantor countries in the negotiations.