Cuba will contribute to achieving peace in Colombia

On his Twitter account, the Cuban president said that “our Government is honored to accept the official request of the Government of Colombia and the National Liberation Army (ELN), to hold in Havana the Third Cycle of the Peace Dialogues Table, and contribute to achieve the longed-for peace for the sister nation”.

This Wednesday, the Caribbean island accepted the request of the authorities of Bogota and the ELN for the celebration of the Third Cycle of the Peace Dialogue Table.

A note from the Foreign Ministry stated that “Cuba will make every effort for Peace in Colombia. Consequently, Cuba maintained its willingness to continue as Guarantor and Alternative Venue of the Table of Peace Dialogues”.

The CubaMinrex website reports that this was expressed by Díaz-Canel on August 12, 2022, during a meeting held in Havana with the Colombian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Peace, Álvaro Leyva Durán, the High Commissioner for Peace in that country, Iván Danilo Rueda Rodríguez and Commander Pablo Beltrán for the ELN.

The Second Cycle of the Table is being held in Mexico City, and a Cuban representation has participated in the two phases held, as well as in the exploratory meetings prior to the reinstallation of the talks.

Eugenio Martínez Enríquez, director general for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Foreign Ministry, explained that as a guarantor country of these talks, the island participates in person at the Dialogue Table and makes a diplomatic and political contribution to the construction of peace in Colombia.

“Being a host entails a high responsibility, which Cuba is in conditions to fulfill due to its experience in other dialogue processes in which the parties have recognized its impartiality”, he said in an interview published in Cubaminrex.

The official considered that it is a hope and an opportunity that this Dialogue Table has been resumed, because “the Colombian people want and deserve peace, and Cuba has the deep conviction that it will find the ways to achieve it. In everything Cuba can help, we will be there”.

Martínez Enríquez recalled that the role that Cuba played and is playing in this process is based on the strictest respect for the consent and agreements reached between the Government of Colombia and the ELN “and it will continue to support and contribute, together with the other guarantor countries, accompanying countries and other actors”.