Colombia News: Juan Manuel Santos Initiates Peace Pact With FARC, ELN

Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos said on Tuesday that official negotiations with FARC and ELN will begin once a final agenda is agreed upon. The statesman admitted that peace talks with the ELN have been ongoing since January but called this an 'exploratory phase' and emphasized the need for cooperation from both sides. Santos explained that there is only one conflict and therefore there "cannot be two models for disarmament, nor two processes for counterinsurgency, nor two years of discovery for the truth."

The Head of State emphasized that the talks with the ELN are also seeking to put an end to more than 50 years of war, so that they must necessarily include the abandonment of weapons for the guerrillas and a guarantee of non-repetition for victims. Santos added that the process "is on the outside, without a bilateral ceasefire, without an inch of clear territory," and emphasized that, like the talks which are ongoing with FARC, are centered "on the foundations of our Constitution, and our economic model and our Armed Forces. "

"It is my responsibility as President to inform the country of the existence of this peace effort, which responds to the vision of a comprehensive peace that my Government has been promoting," said Santos. The president added that this exploratory phase with the ELN does not jeopardize the progress that has been made with the FARC, a process which he said entered its final phase, and said that the political responsibility of this new phase of dialogue with other guerrilla group "rests solely on my shoulders. " He pecified that "peace is possible, let us prepare for peace."