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ECUADOREAN President Rafael Correa has revealed that his country has hosted peace talks between the Colombian government and left-wing guerillas.
Mr Correa said on Friday that six secret meetings between Bogota and the National Liberation Army (ELN) had been held since last year, which he described as successful.
The aim was to lead to open talks, like those with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) which have continued in Cuba since 2012.
“For obvious reasons, the meetings were confidential,” said Mr Correa.
“This allowed the peace talks with the ELN to make important steps forward, and soon an open and formal dialogue will start, with a similar methodology to the Farc’s.”
But on Saturday the centre-left Alternative Democratic Pole mayoral candidate for the city of Cucuta, Charles Torres, escaped a gun attack unharmed — raising the spectre of a return to political violence in Colombia.
ELN leader Nicolas Rodriguez, alias Gabino, said recently that his movement was impatient to tell Colombians the “good news” of formal negotiations with President Juan Manuel Santos’s government.
