HAVANA: The Colombian government and leftist FARC rebels wound up a 12th round of peace talks yesterday but apparently made little progress despite pressure from the country’s president who has staked his legacy on a successful outcome before a looming national election.
The talks with the FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, recess every few weeks, then resume, with the next round set to begin on August 19. They are being facilitated by Cuba and Norway and hosted in Havana.
“We have begun the construction of accords concerning the rights and guarantees of political opposition in general, and in particular for new movements that arise after the signing of a final agreement,” a joint statement issued yesterday said, without indicating what common ground had been reached.
Discussions to end the longest and last remaining armed conflict in Latin America began last November with President Juan Manuel Santos saying he wanted them concluded in a year, a deadline he said this week was flexible if significant progress was made.
Santos said this week that talks to bring an end to five decades of conflict with the FARC were going well but should speed up.
“I am still optimistic. If I see that they have no future, that there is no will on the other side, that this is going nowhere, that same day I will dismantle the negotiating table and talks will end,” Santos said.
The slow pace of the talks even as the fighting continues has Colombians beginning to lose patience. In a recent survey, some 43 percent of those polled in July said they were optimistic peace could be achieved, down from 45 percent in April.
The two sides, which are working through a five-point agenda, have only reached partial agreement on agrarian reform.
REUTERS
