(Tibú) The Colombian government and the main dissident faction of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which rejected the historic 2016 agreement, opened peace talks on Monday accompanied by a ceasefire of three months.
“Today, we are formally putting in place this stage of the peace policy, of the policy of life: the dialogue phase,” announced Danilo Rueda, High Commissioner for Peace of the government.
Discussions began in Tibu, in the northeast of the country, in a region producing coca leaves, the main ingredient of cocaine, between the government of President Gustavo Petro and the group known as “EMC-FARC » (for “Central Staff”).
The talks were due to begin last Sunday, but were postponed for a week. The negotiations aim to demobilize 3,500 rebels and put a definitive end to their armed insurrection.
“In the name of all the FARC guerrillas […] we ratify before you all our delegates at the dialogue table with the national government,” said EMC spokesperson Andrey Avendaño.
With the official launch of these negotiations, a three-month bilateral ceasefire also began, according to a decree issued by the Ministry of Defense. It will end on January 15 at midnight, unless renewed.
Camilo Gonzalez Posso, head of the government delegation at the negotiating table, stressed that this decree aims to “respect life in all its forms” and “avoid affecting the civilian population.”
The opening of these negotiations was announced in mid-September in the department of Cauca (southwest), another region of cultivation of the main ingredient of cocaine of which Colombia is the world’s leading producer and where recent attacks and clashes with the army caused many deaths.
The dissidents, who consider themselves the true heirs of the FARC, have notably increased their operations against the security forces in recent weeks in an attempt to increase their territorial hold on drug trafficking zones.
Gustavo Petro announced a bilateral truce with the country’s five main armed groups on December 31, but suspended the agreement with the EMC in May, when the rebels killed four young indigenous people who opposed their recruitment.