BOGOTA — Colombia’s government will sign a bilateral cease-fire with the nation’s last remaining major rebel group ahead of Pope Francis’ visit this week, President Juan Manuel Santos announced Monday. Under the deal between the government and the FARC, the group has turned over its weapons and is in the process of reorganizing as a political movement to compete in elections next year. But negotiations with the more ideological and less centralized ELN have been slower since exploratory talks began more than three years ago. Unlike the FARC, which financed itself through involvement in Colombia’s flourishing drug trade, the ELN funds its insurgency mainly through kidnappings and extortion. The ELN, whose founders five decades ago included radical Roman Catholic priests, is believed to have about 1,500 active fighters.

Source: National Post September 04, 2017 14:03 UTC