Colombia and ELN rebels begin moving to restart peace talks

By ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ and MANUEL RUEDA
Associated Press

HAVANA (AP) — Colombia’s new government and members of the nation’s last guerrilla group are moving toward restarting peace talks that were suspended three years ago in Cuba. After a meeting between both sides in Havana on Friday, Colombia’s national peace commissioner said the government will take the necessary “judicial and political steps” to make peace talks possible, such as lifting arrest warrants for members of the National Liberation Army delegation now living in exile in Cuba. Colombia’s previous government terminated the peace talks in 2019 after the rebels set off a car bomb at a police academy in Bogota and killed more than 20 cadets. Colombian authorities issued arrest warrants for ELN leaders in Cuba for the peace negotiations. But Cuba refused to extradite them.