Colombia resumes talks with FARC rebels
Colombia resumes talks with FARC rebels
AFP
Published — Tuesday 26 May 2015
HAVANA: The Colombian government and FARC guerrillas resumed peace talks Monday in Havana amid heightened tensions following air strikes that killed dozens of rebels.
Rebel leader Pablo Catatumbo condemned the government offensive as he arrived for the talks, which opened in November 2012 but have made only halting progress on ending the five-decade-old conflict.
“Without a doubt, the tragic events are a step backward in what we’ve achieved up to now at the negotiating table,” he said.
“They can’t expect military pressure or threats to break our will to fight. That’s the wrong path and it’s obvious that peace will never be reached by escalating the conflict.”
The two sides had postponed the talks on Friday “by common agreement” as tensions spiralled in the wake of an air strike that killed 26 rebel fighters, according to a source close to the government.
More:
http://www.arabnews.com/world/news/751981
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Apparently, some in the U.S.-trained, armed, funded Colombian military, and/or in the Pentagon, sought to sabotage the peace talks.
Also posted by you:
Military commanders investigated over FARC attack that killed 11 soldiers
May 24, 2015
Colombia’s Inspector General’s office has opened an investigation against nine members of the military, suspecting their negligence and omission attributed to the killing of 11 soldiers in a recent FARC attack.
The investigation is over a series of faulty information reported by the military and a lack of witness testimonies on an alleged FARC ambush that left 11 uniformed soldiers and two guerrillas dead on April 15 in the municipality of Buenos Aires in the province of Cauca.
Inspector General Alejandro Ordoñez‘ probe will cover three main areas of focus, namely whether there was a failure to follow precautionary protocol, whether key details on the attack were omitted from the military’s report, and whether weapons were hidden from the initial investigators from the forensic prosecution investigators. (MORE)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/110840946
This was the incident that sparked the air attack on the FARC. It appears that it was a trumped up incident--and I suppose that such things are to be expected in a 50+ year civil war in which the U.S. has made itself a party to one side, and poured billions of our tax dollars into the Colombian military killing Colombians. So much corruption, on so many levels, will not easily yield to peace.
Hang in there, peacemakers!
