Colombian Rebel Group Agrees to Talks

The second-largest guerrilla force in Colombia has agreed to open peace talks with the government in June to end 34 years of fighting and sabotage of critical oil refineries and pipelines, officials confirmed Wednesday.

In secret talks in Madrid, international representatives for the National Liberation Army, known by the initials ELN, signed off last month on a preparatory meeting for a national peace convention.

Word of the agreement was leaked to the Spanish media, leading negotiators to fear that the publicity still might threaten the deal, which awaits formal approval by the rebels’ central command.

“I would have been a bit more optimistic if we could have kept it secret,” said the government’s chief peace negotiator, Daniel Garcia Pena.

In addition, negotiators still hope to convince the nation’s largest guerrilla organization, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, to join the talks.

News of the breakthrough in negotiations comes at a crucial time for both the government of President Ernesto Samper and the campaign of his handpicked successor, former Interior Minister Horacio Serpa.

After leading the presidential race for months, Serpa earlier this week dipped to second place in opinion polls--behind Conservative Party candidate Andres Pastrana. Serpa and Pastrana are far ahead of other candidates and are expected to take first and second place in the first round of elections May 31.

The runoff election for the top two vote-getters is scheduled for June 21. The talks with rebels will take place June 5-9, making them a likely focus of the election. The prospect of peace talks is expected to boost the populist Serpa’s standing, because he is known to have strong contacts with leftist groups and backed attempts at negotiations while he was interior minister, analysts said.

Garcia Pena rejected charges that the process will be used politically by either side in the election, noting that the meeting in June will include both remaining presidential candidates.

Samper also needed some good news about the civil war that has ground on for more than three decades. Congress this week opened an inquiry into the most significant military defeat that Colombia’s army has suffered at the hands of rebels.

At least 62 soldiers from an elite battalion were killed and 40 captured earlier this month in a battle with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

With about 3,000 troops, the pro-Cuban ELN was founded in 1964 and is strategically important because of its ability to interrupt Colombia’s oil supply. Since 1986, the ELN has attacked oil pipelines and refineries with explosives more than 500 times, causing economic losses and environmental damage.

A participant in the negotiations told The Times that the ELN had wanted more time before the talks were made public because it has yet to discuss the matter with the FARC. The ELN hopes that the larger guerrilla group will join in the agreement, or at least not actively oppose it.

“A peace process without the FARC is not a peace process,” Garcia Pena said.

The former Spanish priest who leads the ELN, Manuel Perez, has been critical of the larger rebel group for raising money from “taxes” on cocaine production. The ELN’s funding comes mainly from extortion and kidnapping.

The FARC has refused to negotiate with Samper’s government. The rebel organization considers Samper’s administration illegitimate because his 1994 campaign, by his own aides’ admissions, received $6 million in contributions from drug cartels. Further complicating prospects for FARC participation in the talks, Colombian officials said Wednesday that the guerrilla group’s international spokesman, Marco Calarca, has been arrested in Bolivia.