http://www.granma.cu/ingles/ouramerica-i/20novi-Colombian%20government.html
Havana. November 20, 2012
Colombian government and FARC-EP begin peace talks
• Guerrilla movement orders two-month unilateral ceasefire
Sergio Alejandro Gómez
TEN years after the frustrated peace process in San Vicente del Caguán,
during the Andrés Pastrana government, Colombian authorities and the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP) officially
initiated peace talks on November 19 in Havana to seek an end to the political,
social and military conflict the country has endured for more than 50 years.
The government delegation, headed by former Colombian Vice President
Humberto de la Calle arrived first at the International Convention Center in
the Cuban capital, followed by the FARC-EP group, led by Comandante Iván
Márquez.
The start of talks opens the second phase of the current peace process,
which began in February of this year with exploratory meetings between the two
sides in Havana.
As a result of these contacts, a general agreement for the termination of
the conflict and the construction of a stable and lasting peace was drawn up,
now the basis of negotiations.
According to this document, the first point of the current talks is the
agrarian development policy, subsequent agenda items will be selected by mutual
agreement.
The agreed-upon agenda includes the issue of political participation,
guarantees for the exercise of a political opposition in general and for
"movements that emerge after the signing of the final agreement."
Another point is "the end of the conflict as an integral and simultaneous
process which implies the reincorporation of FARC-EP into civilian life – in
the economic, social and political context – in accordance with its interests."
Other agenda items are finding a solution to the problem of illicit drugs
and compensation for the victims of the conflict.
The formal inauguration of talks took place this past November 18 in
Oslo, Norway, but it was not until November 19 that the parties sat down for
the first time to address the peace agenda.
Cuba and Norway are acting as guarantors of the process, while Venezuela
and Chile are observers.
CEASEFIRE
As a decisive contribution to strengthening the climate of understanding
necessary for the parties initiating the dialogue, the FARC-EP Central Command
Secretariat ordered all units to cease "all types of offensive military
operations against the public force and acts of sabotage against the private or
public infrastructure, from 00.00 on November 20, 2012 to 00:00 on January 20,
2013."
The statement, read by Comandante Iván Márquez upon his arrival at the
International Convention Center, notes that the unilateral ceasefire "is
another demonstration of our will to generate a propitious political
environment for the progress of the talks, in the interest of achieving the
commitment to a genuine peace treaty which will put a end to the social and
armed conflict, as is the desire of the majority of Colombians."
The text, titled "Opening paths toward peace," defends the people’s right
to be heard at the negotiating table as Colombia’s destiny is defined.
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