Bogotá, July 8 (RHC)-- Colombian President Ivan Duque has rejected the National Liberation Army's (ELN) proposal for a "bilateral ceasefire for 90 days."

In a communiqué released to the media, the ELN expressed its willingness to agree on a three-month ceasefire with the government, given the crisis over the coronavirus, "to create a climate of humanitarian détente, favorable to restart peace talks."

In response to this proposal, Duque has written a tweet in which he asserts that his government "will never fail to comply with its constitutional duty to confront crime throughout the country." adding that the ELN "is a terrorist group that has scourged the country with barbarism for decades."

During Duque's administration, the ELN has held 36 people. So far, according to the Red Cross, it has released 13 hostages despite the fact that rapprochement between the two sides was suspended in 2019 after an attack on the General Santander School of Cadets in Bogotá.

Between March and April of this year, the guerrilla group carried out a "unilateral ceasefire" as a "humanitarian gesture" in response to the coronavirus, which it did not extend in view of the attitude of Duque's "war government."