Despite breakthrough, Colombia faces steep challenges to ‘total peace’

SÃO PAULO – Mediated by the Church, peace talks established earlier this year between the Colombian government and left-wing guerrilla organization Comuneros del Sur have led to unprecedented progress, with an agreement for a bilateral ceasefire and the group’s pledge to put down its guns.

But that achievement has a bittersweet aftertaste, given that it’s connected to the failure of the peace negotiations with the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN, or National Liberation Army), a major guerrilla organization.