Colombian president slams ELN’s decision to resume kidnappings amid stalled peace talks

By Laura Gamba

BOGOTA, Colombia (AA) – Colombian President Gustavo Petro said Wednesday that the path to peace" is not to turn "the human body into a commodity” after the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group announced that it would resume kidnappings amid stalled peace talks with the government.

The ELN said Tuesday that they had made the decision after the government failed to create a fund that would allow them to sustain their organization through third-party donations.

“To date, the fund has not yet been established, and the government shows little willingness to move forward in this area. Given the above, the ELN terminates its offer of unilateral suspension of economic withholdings,” it said.

The government responded that there was never an agreement to exchange the end of the kidnappings for a fund and that there is no established deadline for its creation.

“The government delegation has always made it clear to the ELN that trade with human beings has no kind of justification and its elimination is not the subject of any transaction,” it said.

The guerrilla group had suspended the practice of kidnapping under a cease-fire agreement and peace negotiations with the government of Petro, who has criticized the decision by the rebel group.

"Kidnapping only leads to drug trafficking. The path to peace is not to turn...the human body into a commodity," he said at an event.

The ELN said that despite this decision, it "maintains its willingness to resume new agreements consistent with the horizon of a political solution to the conflict."

Negotiations with the ELN have been carried on as part of Petro´s "total peace" policy, an attempt to demobilize all of the country's remaining rebel groups to resolve a conflict dating back to the 1960s. However, the process has encountered numerous obstacles such as violations of the cease-fire agreement and dissent over various issues such as kidnappings and financing methods.