Tag: FARC

EU will support peace negotiations in Colombia: Envoy

BOGOTÁ, Colombia (AFP) — The European Union will support upcoming peace talks between the Colombian government and dissident factions of the disarmed FARC guerrillas, the bloc’s diplomacy chief said Wednesday. “I am impressed by what President (Gustavo) Petro wants to do with his ‘total peace’ project,” said Josep Borrell, who arrived in Colombia Tuesday. “The European Union will accompany this process in every way we can, politically and economically.” Petro has been pursuing negotiations in […]

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Warring guerrillas bring misery to Colombian region

by Hervé BAR Agence France-Presse SARAVENA, Colombia (AFP) – Fear reigns in northeastern Colombia on the border with Venezuela where the local population has been caught in the crossfire of rival warring groups of left-wing guerrillas. Since the start of the year, the National Liberation Army (EL), Colombia’s last recognized guerrilla group, and dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels that laid down arms and signed a 2016 peace deal with the […]

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Bird watching for peace in Colombia

by Hervé BAR Agence France-Presse PLANADAS, Colombia (AFP) – As a bird perches on a telegraph pole, two young girls are deep in consultation — is it “Tiranus melancholicus,” or perhaps “Pyrocephalus rubinus?” The answer is “rubinus,” a sparrow with a bright red breast. In the center of Colombia, among the leafy mountains of Planadas, this ornithological debate by indigenous children might seem surprising. With their eyes scanning the mountain, around 30 people, adults and […]

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Colombia’s FARC furious over ex-rebel’s arrest on drugs charges

    BOGOTA, Colombia (AFP) — The arrest of a former FARC negotiator on US drug charges has brought Colombia’s landmark peace deal to its “most critical point,” the former rebel group warned on Tuesday. Jesus Santrich, a senior member of rebel-group-turned-political-party who had been slated to take a seat in Colombia’s Congress in July, was arrested on Monday in Bogota. Prosecutors in New York accuse him of conspiring to ship 10,000 kilograms of cocaine to […]

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Fighting to farming: New life for Colombia’s ex-rebels

by Raul Arboleda © Agence France-Presse La Montañita, Colombia (AFP) — Felix Salcedo lost an arm fighting during Colombia’s half-century civil war which ended in August. Today, he uses his remaining arm to grow pineapples. Like dozens of other former FARC guerrillas in his village, Salcedo is trying to earn a living legally after his rebel movement disarmed under a December peace deal with the government. Salcedo, 38, thinks back on the half of his life he […]

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Colombia declares conflict with FARC over with disarmament complete

BOGOTA, Colombia (AFP) — Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos declared the country’s 50-year conflict with the FARC guerrilla group “truly over” Tuesday, with the disarming of the rebel group complete. The United Nations-supervised process concluded with the delivery of the last truckloads of weapons from areas where the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) began demobilizing at the start of the year. “With the laying down of arms … the conflict is truly over and a new […]

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Colombia’s FARC rebels begin disarming

by Lissy DE ABREU / with Florence PANOUSSIAN in San Jose de Oriente Agence France-Presse BOGOTA, Colombia – Colombia’s FARC rebels begin disarming Wednesday under a historic peace deal, beginning the delicate transition from guerrilla army to political party after more than half a century at war. After weeks of mustering its troops at designated disarmament zones, the FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, was set to begin an inventory of its weapons and […]

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Colombia’s Santos, Ecuador’s Correa underscore commitment to peace

  GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador (Reuters) — Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos met with Ecuador’s outgoing President Rafael Correa in the port city of Guayaquil on Wednesday, hailing the peace process with Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels that culminated in an end to more than five decades of violence. The official meeting comes as Ecuador hosts official peace talks between Colombia’s Marxist National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels and Bogota in a bid to end another […]

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Colombian president wins Nobel Prize for peace efforts

OSLO, Norway (AFP) – by Hazel WARD Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos won the Nobel Peace Prize Friday for his “resolute” efforts to end more than five decades of war in his country, despite voters’ shock rejection of a historic peace deal. The award was unexpected after voters rejected the terms of a landmark accord Santos clinched last month with FARC leader Rodrigo Londono, alias Timoleon “Timochenko” Jimenez and some observers expressed surprise the rebel […]

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Colombian voters nix peace deal in shock vote

  by Alina Dieste BOGOTA, Colombia (AFP) — Colombians hit their government with a shock defeat Sunday when they voted by a razor-thin majority to reject a historic peace accord with communist FARC rebels. Voters narrowly defied the government’s plan to put 52 years of bloody conflict behind them, reversing the trend of earlier opinion polls. The ‘No’ camp won by about 57,000 votes which translated into a lead of less than half a percentage […]

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Colombia FARC says committed to peace talks despite vote loss

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) — Colombia’s FARC rebels vowed Sunday they were committed to continuing peace efforts despite voters having rejected an accord between the force and the government to end their half-century conflict. The FARC maintains “its willingness to use dialogue as the only weapon for building the future,” the group’s leader Timoleon Jimenez said in a speech in Havana, Cuba, where the accord was negotiated. © 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse

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Colombia announces historic peace deal

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) – by Hector Velasco Colombia’s government and FARC rebels announced Wednesday that they have reached a historic peace accord to end their half-century civil war, the last major armed conflict in the Americas. After nearly four years of peace talks in Cuba, the two sides said they have successfully concluded negotiations and reached a final deal. “The Colombian government and the FARC announce that we have reached a final, full and definitive […]

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