Colombian President Gustavo Petro said yesterday that he would accept a proposal from the country's largest remaining rebel group to allow an independent commission to investigate its alleged links to drug trafficking, the Associated Press reported.
The proposal was made in a video released on January 20 by Antonio Garcia, leader of the National Liberation Army (ANO). In the video, Garcia said that while the rebels impose a tax on cocaine traffickers, they do not operate any drug trafficking routes or cocaine laboratories.
"ANO has no connection to drug trafficking", Garcia said in the video, and called on the government to allow an independent commission to verify the group's claims.
Petro said in a statement yesterday that he would accept the proposal, adding that the agency verifying the rebels' claims should be "scientific and independent of the government" and submit its findings to the United Nations. Petro also called on the rebels to support efforts to replace cocaine plantations in the northeastern Catatumbo region.
The Colombian president has long accused the rebels of profiting from the drug trade, calling their leaders "drug traffickers disguised as guerrillas".
The ANO's alleged links to drug trafficking were one of the reasons that hindered progress in peace talks during the first two years of Petro's term.
Peace talks between the two sides ultimately collapsed last year after the ANO launched an offensive in Catatumbo that killed dozens of people and forced more than 50,000 from their homes.
In January, the ANO said it wanted to work with the government on a "national agreement" that would allow for the resumption of negotiations.
Petro, however, said he would resume talks with the group only when it renounces drug trafficking.
ANO was founded in the early 1960s and has about 5,000 fighters in Colombia and neighboring Venezuela, the AP said.