The government and paramilitary organization EGC have continued negotiations that may lead to the demobilization of the group outside Colombia, President Gustavo Petro said.

Speaking before a crowd in the town of Tierralta, Cordoba, Petro said that “we began conversations outside Colombia with the self-proclaimed Gaitanista Army.”

The president provided no further information on the talks that followed a meeting between EGC commanders and government negotiator Alvaro Jimenez in February.

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Colombia???s government negotiator meets with EGC commanders

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The alleged talks take place while Justice Minister Eduardo Montealegre is lobbying the approval of a bill that would allow the mass demobilization of the thousands of paramilitaries that make up the EGC.

The bill would allow demobilized EGC fighters to apply for judicial benefits if they contribute to the clarification of crimes committed by the paramilitary organization and its predecessor, the AUC.

All of the EGC’s top commanders and many of the organization’s mid-level commanders began their clandestine career as members of the AUC, which formally demobilized between 2003 and 2006.

Attempts to reintegrate demobilized AUC fighters were severely hampered by broken government promises and violence that killed more than 3,000 demobilized paramilitaries.

What is now called the EGC was created by AUC founder Vicente Casta??o in the northwestern Uraba region in late 2006 as one of multiple dissident AUC factions.

The organization has since become by far the largest illegal armed group in Colombia and plays a dominant role in the country’s illegal economies, mainly drug trafficking and illegal mining.

The paramilitaries are mainly active in northern Colombia where they exercise territorial control and have significant influence on municipal administrations and daily life.

Both the EGC and the president have stressed the importance of talks as part of the government’s “Total Peace” policy since Petro took office in August of 2022.

Until now, attempts to set up sustained talks that could lead to the demobilization of the EGC have failed.