http://lo-de-alla.org/2013/02/colombia-farc-in-havana/#more-3754
Colombia: FARC in Havana<http://lo-de-alla.org/2013/02/colombia-farc-in-havana/> *The truth and the lies about a heroic guerrilla movement* [Translation of an article from *Brasil de Fato* of São Paulo for February 8. See original here <http://www.brasildefato.com.br/node/11917> and related articleshere<http://lo-de-alla.org/2012/10/colombia-agrarian-question-a-challenge-in-peace-talks/> and here<http://lo-de-alla.org/2012/09/colombia-no-deadline-in-bogota-farc-peace-process-rebel-leader-says/> .] By Miguel Urbano Rodrigues There is no hiding the fact these days that the Juan Manuel Santos administration is not interested in having the Havana peace talks attain the objective of the agreement sketched out in Oslo with the sponsorship of Norway and Cuba. On the contrary, it makes an effort to prevent their leading to an end of the conflict and to the peace that the Colombian people want. The head of the Bogotá delegation, Humberto de la Calle, repeatedly finds pretexts for threatening to end the talks, preventing the discussion of items on the agenda from moving forward. The capture of two police officers in the Valle department, supposedly by the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) and the Ejército Popular (EP), is the latest of these pretexts. It should be recalled that on November 20 of last year the revolutionary organization declared a ceasefire, during which it suspended all its offensive operations. Did Santos opt for a similar gesture? No. His response was an intensification of the war by the governments military apparatus, with its 500,000 men, the largest and best equipped army in Latin America. From that point onward, tons of bombs were dropped on the guerrilla camps. In the face of the situation thus created, the FARC resumed its interrupted combat once the two months of the ceasefire had elapsed. The government, with the support of the media, immediately accused them of compromising the progress of the peace talks. In order to confuse pubic opinion, domestic and foreign, the army and the minister of defense, Juan Carlos Pinzón, resorted to double-talk. When the army takes guerrillas, the military and the press report that they were captured in battle. But when elements of the official armed forces are taken prisoner by the guerrillas, the government, the television and the newspapers declare that military and police officers were kidnapped in a cowardly manner by the FARC narcoterrorists (or thieves and assassins). Humberto de la Calle, spewing insults of FARC, switches the roles, holding them responsible for the stagnation of the peace talks, and says that they are deceived if they believe that with this kind of action they are going to force the government into a bilateral ceasefire. Dismantling the official lies and hypocrisy, the FARC dotted all the Is in a brief communiqué in which they explained, The FARC-EP will commit themselves to not undertaking new acts of an economic nature. Although Law 002, which refers to our financing, is still in force, we reserve the right to take as prisoners members of the public forces who surrender in battle. They are called prisoners of war, and this is something that occurs in every conflict in the world. In an interview published on January 30, the writer Carlos Lozano, editor of the weekly *Voz,* organ of the Colombian Communist Party, denounced the bad faith of the government representatives in the Havana talks and the campaign that portrays Colombia as a democratic country. Elections Colombian style, he explains, are carried out under the conditions and advantages of the dominant oligarchy. Therefore, they fear reforms, they do not accept changes to the rules of politics because they are their rules. In this context, it is obvious that the Bogotá government does all it can to prevent the peace process from moving forward. In an unexpected pirouette, President Juan Manuel Santos agreed, under popular pressure, to open peace talks because he is working for his reelection, which is otherwise problematic. It was a political move. The oligarchy, the army and Washington are committed to continuing the war. Addressing his generals recently, Santos used an aggressive language, making his thoughts clear: Everyone knows the number of actions must be tripled until we end this war one way or another. Comandante Iván Márquez, head of the FARC delegation, stripped Juan Manuel Santos of his mask in a press conference in Havana on February 1. He pointed out that the government had rejected all the suggestions offered by the FARC for strengthening the agenda in the spirit of the Oslo accords. Santos responded with a round NO! to the following proposals: holding the peace talks in Colombia; the inclusion of Comandante Simón Trinidad as a member of the FARC delegation; discussion of a bilateral ceasefire, with the participation of the minister of defense and of General Alejandro Navas, commander in chief of the armed forces; the regularization of the war, that is, its humanization; participation of the citizenry in the peace talks; priority for a broad and deep debate on the agrarian question, with the presence of the minister of agriculture; the calling of a constituent assembly. We see an image of the government, the oligarchy and the armed forces in Santos NO. *A positive balance* It would therefore be a romantic illusion to believe that the outcome of the peace process in Havana will be an accord that opens the door to an end of the conflict. The Bogotá government, in a pre-electoral period, tries to gain time and sooth the combativeness of the masses by feigning an openness to dialogue. History does not repeat itself in the same way; but everything indicates, with as yet imprecise data, that he will imitate former President Patrana who in February, 2002, broke off the negotiations with the FARC in Caguan and invaded the demilitarized zone. The transparency of Juan Manuel Santos plan makes pertinent a question asked by many of those who have followed the Havana dialogues, including people in solidarity with FARCs combat. Was it worthwhile to open these armored negotiations? It is my conviction that the balance is very positive. The interest aroused by the Havana talks and the Oslo prologue will allow the voice of the guerrilla to reach millions of people in dozens of countries. In press conferences, in interviews and articles, leaders like Comandantes Iván Márquez, Rodrigo Granda, Jesús Santrich and others will project the real image of the FARC and its revolutionary organization, incompatible with the perverse caricature of them exported by Santos and his generals. I had the opportunity to know some of these FARC combatants. And I reaffirm what I have written about them: seldom have I met more authentic Marxist revolutionaries, more firm, more prepared ideologically for the declaration and defense of the objectives, strategies and tactics of their organization, which they take on as a party. The FARC will now appeal, once again, to the European Union to remove their name from the list of terrorist organizations, an inexcusable error committed because of pressure from Washington and from former President Uribe Vélez. Charged with state terrorism, the inventor of paramilitarism and complicit in drug trafficking, that was the fascist Uribe government. As a Portuguese, I feel bitterness and shame for Juan Manuel Santos having been received in Lisbon with special honors and praised as head of a democratic state. 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