Nuland Visiting Colombia For Talks On Regional Security, Trade - US State Dept.

Umer Jamshaid Published February 07, 2022 | 11:00 PM

US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland is visiting Bogota this week to participate in the US-Colombia High-Level Strategic Security Dialogue that will focus on regional security and bilateral trade, the State Department said on Monday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th February, 2022) US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland is visiting Bogota this week to participate in the US-Colombia High-Level Strategic Security Dialogue that will focus on regional security and bilateral trade, the State Department said on Monday.

"Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland will travel February 7-8 to Bogota, Colombia, with an interagency delegation to engage with senior Colombian government and law enforcement officials and members of civil society," the State Department said in a press release.

The bilateral meeting will focus on cooperation to advance regional security, economic ties and democratic institutions, the release said.

The US delegation will also include Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols, National Security Council Senior Director for the Western Hemisphere Juan Gonzalez, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Western Hemisphere Daniel Erikson and National Intelligence Manager for the Western Hemisphere Jon Stainbrook, the release said.

The meeting will take place amid an increase in violence in eastern Colombia between the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the release added.

Since the beginning of January, ELN and dissidents of the 10th Front of the FARC, who rejected the 2016 Peace Agreement in Colombia, have engaged in a military confrontation in the Arauca region on Colombia's border with Venezuela.

FARC was created in 1964 as a left-wing armed force operating against the Colombian government. In 2017, after a disarmament process, it became a political party and changed its name to Common Alternative Revolutionary Force. However, in August of 2019, former FARC leader Ivan Marquez declared his return to armed struggle.