Colombia's two main armed rebel groups have shared information about their negotiations with the Colombian government during a meeting in Venezuela, a spokesman from one of the groups said Monday.
At a meeting in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN), the country's first and second-largest rebel groups, discussed the problems that arose during negotiations with the government, ELN spokesman Antonio Garcia told Colombian radio.
"We are certain that in the future this will end with a bigger peace process," Garcia said.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has been helping mediate a planned swap of FARC hostages for FARC militants held in government jails, hopes to do something similar with the ELN.
Chavez has also offered to host talks between the ELN and the Colombian government, which have been underway in Cuba since 2005.
Garcia said that as the talks proceeded, both sides would decide on what Chavez's role could be.
"We have not specifically looked at Chavez's role yet. We have to evaluate the progress we have made and the differences that remain," he said.
The spokesman said he planned to meet Colombia's high commissioner for peace, Luis Carlos Restrepo, in Caracas, adding that the ELN and the Colombian government have agreed to restart talks, which have stagnated since August, next month.
Colombia has been locked in a civil conflict since the mid-1960s, the longest in Latin America, in which government forces are fighting leftist guerrillas. The conflict kills an average of 3,000 people each year.
The Colombian government, which intermittently held exploratory peace talks with the ELN in Havana, Cuba, never holds negotiations with the FARC.
Source: Xinhua
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