Colombia: FARC has not abandoned peace process

Stories in the international press that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia have abandoned the peace process are not true. The situation is clarified by a statement from the High Command of FARC, issued on 10th January.

The claims by the government's High Commissioner for Peace, Camilo Gomez, that FARC had requested a 48-hour truce to prepare for war in the case of a break-down in the negotiations is untrue. Commander Manuel Marulanda never requested anything like this. It is a fabrication.

It is also untrue that FARC has abandoned the peace process. Claims by the government that they are ready to return to the negotiating table should FARC wish to take up negotiations are misleading, since We never left the table , as declared by FARC High Command.

What FARC has requested is that the government ceases to violate the Demilitarised Zone, that the Fascist Paramilitary organisations cease their activities of extorting money from and terrorising civilian populations within areas controlled by FARC and that the government makes a clear statement on whether or not it supports the declarations of the US administration that FARC is a terrorist organisation. This position is wholly and categorically untrue and is a pretext for imperialistic interference and intervention by the United States in Colombia.

What FARC has been proposing in all seriousness in a responsible manner is political initiatives to achieve peace and begin to address the severe political and social ills of the country. What FARC has proposed is to use February and March to discuss a national unemployment subsidy, and to discuss the cease-fire during the months of April and May. Clear objectives with a crystal-clear agenda are an example of the transparency which the leadership of FARC wishes to present. Both of these initiatives were in the Agreement of San Francisco de la Sombra, signed by the government of President Andres Pestrana.

The FARC High Command concludes its message: Themes as delicate as peace and reconciliation among Colombians should be treated with a criterion of high politics and not the emotional outbursts which we have seen in recent times. This because Unemployment, hunger, the lack of a proper education and health system affect the people of Colombia and should be solved by redistribution of wealth, not by war machines.

This is the position of FARC, a serious political organisation which was forced to take up arms to be able to stand up for its principles. Branded a terrorist organisation by a USA that does not know what social justice is, and systematically ignored by the Colombian government, FARC wishes its message to be made clear to the world, a message of truth.

For this reason we decide to express our opinion exclusively through PRAVDA.Ru

Juan BLANCO