Colombia, FARC Talks: Rebel Group Halts Training After Peace Deal
The Colombian rebel group FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia) has announced on Wednesday they will suspend their military training after reaching an agreement witht the Colombian government.
Rodrigo Londono, the leader of the rebel group who goes by the nom de guerre of Timochenko, released a tweet that said he had ordered FARC’s military training to be suspended.
.@JuanManSantos Ordené a estructuras de #FARC-EP suspender cursos militares y dedicarse a la formación política y cultural #VamosPorLapaz
— Timoleón Jiménez (@Timochenko_FARC) October 1, 2015
Londono’s order came a week after rebel negotiators and the Colombian government struck a new deal in Havana that put a timeline on ending over 50 years of fighting.
On Sept. 23 Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced that a final peace agreement would be signed within six months.
Speaking about the peace talks on TeleSur TV, Londono voiced skepticism as well as malleability over the timeline. As Reuters reports, the 56-year-old rebel leader said, "If there's will, we could do it before, but six months may be too short."
Peace talks have been marred by rumors that FARC's fighters were not in agreement with their leader’s attempts at peace. Londono addressed these rumors, saying that as far as FARC was concerned, “There's not a single guerrilla, neither commander or combatant, that's in disagreement."
Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Vélez has been a vocal opponent to Colombia's peace negations with FARC. As reported in El Tiempo, Uribe, who is currently a senator in Colombia's legislature, recently criticized the government’s concessions to the terrorist organization, saying, "They'll hand over the country to the FARC so as to stick me in jail."
Reuters reports part of the new peace deal between Colombia and FARC involves the creation of special tribunals, which would try cases against former rebels and military suspected of war crimes, including kidnappings, forced disappearances, torture and sexual violence.
Peace talks between FARC and Colombia have been taking place in Cuba since 2012.
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