A Colombian senator and a high-ranking official of the National Liberation
                  Army (ELN) held talks Tuesday and Wednesday in Havana with the
                  backing of Cuban President Fidel Castro, Colombian Foreign Minister
                  Guillermo Fernandez de Soto said.

                  "We talked about matters of mutual interest in a very positive and cordial
                  meeting," Fernandez told reporters in Bogota. "We are looking to build up
                  confidence with a view to opening the way to dialogue."

                  Juan Gabriel Uribe, a Conservative Party lawmaker and former presidential
                  adviser, headed the government delegation that met with Pablo Beltran and
                  Ramiro Vargas, members of the ELN's ruling five-man Central Command.

                  Cubans want to facilitate negotiations

                  In Havana, Cuban Foreign Ministry spokesman Alejandro Gonzalez
                  declined to comment on the announcement. But he said Cuba was ready to
                  facilitate peace talks between Colombia's government and its leftist guerrilla
                  groups.

                  "We believe that peace in Colombia isn't important only for Colombia but all
                  of Latin America," Gonzalez said.

                  Castro's revolution in the 1950s provided the inspiration for the ELN to
                  launch its own uprising. The guerrilla group's founder, Fabio Vasquez, has
                  lived in Cuba for at least the last 20 years since his comrades ousted him
                  from power.

                  More than 35,000 dead in ten years of strife

                  Colombia's civil conflict has been raging since the mid-1960s and has
                  claimed more than 35,000 lives in the last ten years.

                  Talks between the 5,000-strong National Liberation Army and the
                  government broke off in February, in part over rebel demands for a
                  rebel-controlled zone similar to that held by the country's leading rebel
                  group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC.

                  ELN guerrillas then began a wave of kidnappings to press their demands,
                  including the hijacking of a commercial airliner in April with more than 50
                  passengers and crew aboard. The following month the group abducted more
                  than 130 worshippers at a Roman Catholic Mass in the southwest city of
                  Cali, some of whom are still being held.

                  Colombian President Andres Pastrana and FARC leaders have said they
                  would resume long-stalled peace talks on Sunday.