In an effort to eliminate mistrust after previously stalled efforts to begin formal peace talks, the Colombian government and the country's second largest rebel group, the National Liberation Army, will engage in a prisoner exchange before negotiations begin, according to the head of the guerrilla group's negotiating team.
"We agreed that all the liberations which have yet to take place will be done simultaneously and ahead of the start (of talks)," rebel leader Israel Ramirez, better known by his alias Pablo Beltran, told Reuters by phone.
Despite more than two years of preliminary talks, formal negotiations between the two sides of the conflict have yet to begin. The Colombian government abruptly and unexpectedly canceled talks hours before they were set to begin Oct. 27 in Quito, Ecuador, where the talks are being hosted.
President Juan Manuel Santos canceled that meeting on the grounds that the National Liberation Army, known as the ELN, failed to confirm the release of a detainee, former lawmaker Odin Sanchez.
The government had announced that the release of Sanchez, held in the jungle province of Choco, was a hard and fast precondition for the start of talks. But ELN leaders have claimed that they never agreed to free Sanchez before the negotiations began, claiming instead they had committed to letting him go once the first rounds of talks got underway.
The government has also called for the ELN to stop attacks against oil infrastructure but has been unwilling to discuss a cease-fire agreement with the rebel group.
Speaking to Reuters, Beltran also ruled out a unilateral cease-fire and said they would release Sanchez as soon as two of their members are freed.
"The same day our two are pardoned, Mr. Sanchez will be free," said Beltran. "We agreed they will happen simultaneously to eliminate mutual distrust."
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He did not name the two rebels he said should be released. The government said this week rebels will only be pardoned if they are legally eligible for such treatment.
The Colombian government also announced earlier this week that talks with the ELN will begin in January 2017.
Colombia's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, signed a revised peace deal with the government late last month, after an initial agreement was rejected in a public referendum. The fraught negotiations between the two sides lasted four years.
As with the FARC talks, Colombians should not expect a short process with the ELN, Beltran said.
"To do it well you have to do it with calm and a lot of caution," he said. "I don't mean they will be eternal conversations, but you can't end a half-century conflict in a couple of weeks."
Despite being a separate process, the lack of bilateral cease-fire between the ELN and the state has affected the peace process with the FARC.
Two FARC rebels were recently gunned down by state security forces who reportedly believed them to be members of the ELN instead. The FARC does have a bilateral cease-fire with the government and it requires the state to refrain from armed combat with FARC troops.
Colombia's second-largest leftist rebel group and the government of President Juan Manuel Santos have agreed to begin peace negotiations in Ecuador, another installment of Santos' efforts to end a 52-year conflict that has killed more than 260,000 and displaced millions.
Santos won the Nobel Peace Prize this year for his efforts to end the civil war.
Under a breakthrough peace deal, the rebels would seek power as a political party in alliance with other leftist groups, added Beltran.