• Colombia and the National Liberation Army (ELN) agree to resume peace talks.
• They have invited Brazil, Chile, and Mexico as so-called guarantor countries to join negotiations.
• Talks were suspended in 2019 due to the ELN’s refusal to cease hostilities.

The Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN), a Marxist guerrilla group, said on Friday that they had agreed to invite Brazil, Chile, and Mexico as so-called guarantor countries to peace negotiations aimed at ending over 60 years of conflict.

The peace talks, which had been suspended in 2019, began on Monday in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela.

Leftist Colombian President Gustavo Petro, a former member of the M-19 insurgency who took office in August, has pledged to bring “total peace” to Colombia following the signing of a peace agreement at the end of 2016 between the South American nation and the much larger Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

After a week of meetings, Colombia and the ELN released a joint statement describing their “climate of trust and optimism.” In addition to Cuba, Norway, and Venezuela, they agreed to add Brazil, Chile, and Mexico to the list of nations that can ensure compliance with commitments.

In addition to inviting Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, and Spain to join, they will urge the United States to send a special ambassador to the bargaining table.

Colombia and the ELN agreed to resume humanitarian aid, but did not provide further information.

Previous attempts to negotiate with the ELN, which has approximately 2,400 soldiers and was created in 1964 by radical Catholic priests, have stalled in part due to internal discord.

Leaders of the ELN claim that the group is unified, although it is unclear how much influence negotiators have over operational units. The majority of the ELN’s negotiating team is far older than its rank-and-file.

Talks between the ELN and the government of Juan Manuel Santos began in 2017 in Ecuador, then moved to Cuba, but were terminated in 2019 by Santos’ successor, Ivan Duque, due to the ELN’s refusal to cease hostilities and the bombing deaths of 22 police cadets.

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