Colombia stops hunting guerrilla leaders

The decision is said to have come after a request from President Gustavo Petro.

For more than 50 years, Colombia has been plagued by armed conflicts between the state and various left-wing guerrillas, far-right paramilitaries and drug traffickers.

Talks with the ELN began back in 2016 under President Juan Manuel Santos who signed a peace deal with the Farc guerrillas who subsequently laid down their arms and formed a political party.

But talks with the ELN were suspended in 2019 by conservative former president Iván Duque after an attack on a police academy in Bogotá killed 22 people.

The government resumed peace talks with the ELN after Gustavo Petro won elections in August, becoming Colombia’s first leftist president.

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