Rebels Suspend Peace Negotiations

The country’s second-leading rebel group suspended preliminary peace talks, accusing the government of exploiting the negotiations for political gain. The peace process is “being taken advantage of to win political and electoral dividends,” said Francisco Galan, a leader of the National Liberation Army, or ELN. Galan made the announcement in a statement read over nationwide radio from his cell at the maximum-security Itaqui jail, 155 miles northwest of the capital, Bogota. Government and rebel representatives were to meet at an undetermined location in Colombia from June 5 to 7, and preliminary talks were to be held to set the agenda for the meeting. The meeting dates, however, fall between the first and second rounds of presidential elections.