News and AnalysIs for

President Juan Manuel Santos paid a visit to Ecuador to deliver aid to the victims of the recent earthquake, and confirmed that the peace negotiations with the ELN would start there.

The ELN guerrilla has an enormous debt with Colombians due to the damage to the environment from its continued attacks over the years, said the government’s lead negotiator in talks with the group, Frank Pearl.

The Colombian government said it raised US$530M in 2015 for the post conflict transition, while the Economist claims that the Farc is sitting on a secret stash of as much as US$10.5B, a claim the guerrilla denies.

Authorities and the El Centro settlement have agreed to form six work groups to talk local hiring, and protestors have lifted blockades of La Cira Infantas in Santander.

There were small signs of advances in the talks with the Farc this week, with the final details of some of the most delicate issues -referendums, Farc prisoners abroad and the post-conflict judicial process- in discussion.

Following an armed strike by the Clan Úsuga paramilitary group last week, the Farc have demanded the government do more to combat these groups, and say that the issue is stalling process in Havana.

With the announcement of formal peace talks between the ELN and the Colombian government, we expect to see a qualitative shift in security results starting next week. So this graph will be our new ‘benchmark’.

As one of his last actions at his post, the Attorney General Eduardo Montealegre has called on judges in Bogotá’s Paloquemao Judicial Complex to hold an audience to bring charges against the the ELN leaders for systematic attacks on oil infrastructure and the resulting environmental damage.

Representatives of the government and the ELN guerrilla have officially announced a start to talks after the latest round of informal discussions which took place in Caracas. The parties agreed to a six point agenda which will be similar to talks with the Farc, but move at its own pace and separately.

The deadline set in September 2015 by the government and Farc to sign a final peace agreement – March 23^rd — passed this week without a full or even partial accord, but the government said the date was successful in that it sped up the process.