There are many challenges to overcome, but only the willingness, the accompaniment, and the intensity of the work at the talks will be able to guarantee success, the FM assured during the installation of the first cycle of talks between the contending forces. Gil hoped that wisdom would inspire the negotiators and enlighten those accompanying the process so that they could offer to all the Colombian and Latin American people a process of dialogue capable of contributing “to the total peace in Colombia, which is so much desired throughout the region.”

The minister estimated that the main challenge of both delegations and of the warrantor and accompanying governments, “to avoid any possibility of tarnishing, sabotaging or destroying the will” that today was manifested in the joint declaration read at the installation of the dialogue table.

The Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs expressed his wish and hopes that the discussions may, in a short and peremptory term, lead to a lasting and sustainable agreement for peace, because “it is about the life, welfare, and development of wide regions of beloved Colombia”. He affirmed that the Venezuelan Government and President Nicolas Maduro have always been committed and will spare no effort to achieve and facilitate the development of the peace processes to provide an optimal result to the Colombian people as an aspirant of the longed-for peace.

The commitment of the Bolivarian Republic goes beyond this dialogue in the context of peace, because it is radically committed to the discussions of the processes already initiated in Caracas between the Colombian Executive and the guerrilla of the National Liberation Army, he asserted.

As well as to the talks between the Central General Staff of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the Executive of the Casa de Nariño, he said.

In a joint communiqué on Monday, the Colombian Government and the Second Marquetalia Bolivarian Army reaffirmed from Caracas their commitment to the search for a peace agreement for Colombia.

The Governments of Cuba, Norway and the Bolivarian Republic are participating as warrantor countries in this negotiating table, and the special representative of the UN Secretary-General and the Episcopal Conference of the neighboring country will act as accompanying countries.

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