Weekly Report - 19 April 2005

All is not well on the peacemaking front in Colombia. The paramilitary leaders have greeted the approval, in the penultimate reading, of the controversial 'justice and peace' bill with a reiteration of their position that it is an unsatisfactory basis for their demobilisation. At the other end of the ideological spectrum, the guerrillas of the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) have rejected the recent overtures conveyed by the ambassadors of Brazil, Venezuela and Spain. The Farc, meanwhile, is loudly proclaiming the failure of the government's 'Plan Patriota' offensive.