13) GOVERNMENT OF COLOMBIA AND FARC TO LAUNCH PEACE TALKS

     The Colombian government of Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC-EP (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army) have signed an agreement to start formal peace talks. The agreement was signed in Havana on August 27, after nearly half a century of armed conflict. Negotiations are to begin next month in Oslo, the Norwegian capital.

     The teleSUR news service reports that secret talks began in Havana earlier this year, with the support of the governments of Venezuela, Cuba and Norway. According to teleSUR, the architects of this process included the FARC guerrilla commander Mauritius, better known as The Doctor, who succeeded the assassinated Jorge Briceno, known as Mono Jojoy. Rebel leaders Rodrigo Granda, Mark and Andrew Calarca Paris also participated.

     On the government side, the current security adviser Sergio Jaramillo, the Environment Minister Frank Pearl and the president's brother, Juan Manuel Santos were involved in the process.

     In August 2011, the top leader of the FARC, Alfonso Cano, stated FARC's desire for peace talks to end the war in Colombia after almost half a century. In a video released by the New Colombia News Agency (Anncol), Cano reminded that "in his inaugural address, President Santos promised to leave behind the hatred that had characterized the eight years of the previous government".

     "The FARC‑EP today wants to reiterate that we believe in a political solution, we believe in dialogue," said Cano, who stressed that since FARC's return to civilian life implies and demands a different Colombia, trust "must be official and guaranteed on both sides".

     Meanwhile, President Santos said last July that "Colombia needs and deserves peace after so much blood has been spilled."

     An agenda for the peace negotiations has also appeared in the media, based on mutual agreement to discuss a number of critical issues facing the people of Colombia. These include:

- the need for integral agricultural development to boost the equitable social and economic development of Colombia. This covers the need to stimulate "agricultural production and the economy of solidarity and cooperation", through technical assistance, subsidies, credit, marketing, etc.

- questions of access and use of land.

- social development in the areas of health, education, housing, eradication of poverty.

- rights and guarantees for the political opposition in general, and for the new movements that arise after the signing of a Final Agreement.

- the need for a bilateral and definitive ceasefire and end of hostilities, abandonment of arms, and reincorporation of FARC‑EP fighters into civil life ‑ economic, social and political ‑ in accordance with their interests.

- an end to prosecution against individuals, charged or convicted, for belonging to or collaborating with the FARC‑EP.

- an intensified government fight against criminal organizations responsible for killings of social and political activists.

- a solution to the problem of illicit drugs, for example programs to encourage farmers to switch to other crops.

- compensation for the victims of human rights abuses.

     For more information, see http://colombiareports.com/colombia‑news/fact‑sheets/25784‑agreement‑colombia‑government‑and‑rebel‑group‑farc.html

(The above article is from the September 16-30, 2012, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)