Dialogue in Colombia towards more substantive issues

By. Roberto Morejon

The government and the insurgent National Liberation Army took an important step towards peace in Colombia by reaching clarifications in the second round of the Mexico-based dialogue, after an initial one in Venezuela.

The interlocutors drew up a sort of road map or agenda for the talks, an essential support for any negotiating table.

The guideline reached there should facilitate future talks in the search for a great national agreement and reconciliation, the fruit of structural transformations.

Even the government of President Gustavo Petro and the rebels are already outlining the initial elements for the participation of society and the ceasefire, two of the most difficult aspects to deal with. 

The Colombian government and the insurgents also seem to agree on the importance of a political solution to the six-decade conflict involving commitments from all branches of government, so that the peace of the state will not be altered by a subsequent government.

For observers, the road ahead requires arduous discussions, but it places in black and white minimum bases on which to reach compromises in the future, perhaps in Havana, the next venue of the dialogue, and in other possible meetings.

The important thing is that the parties have recovered the ground lost after the boycott by the government of Iván Duque.

And this has happened despite the fact that the context is extremely complex due to the incidence in Colombia of drug trafficking, corruption, social inequalities and the international crisis.   

But the first leftist president in Colombia is determined to talk to all the actors involved in an internal conflict that has left almost half a million people murdered, more than 120,000 disappeared and 7.7 million displaced.

 Petro is promoting what he calls a policy of total peace through dialogues with a range of armed groups.

The South American country does not start from nothing because in 2016 it managed to sign peace with the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a process currently being implemented not without setbacks and misunderstandings.

For Latin Americans and Caribbeans, in the first place, any step taken in Colombia to strengthen internal peace and the social rule of law is an encouragement.