COLOMBIA-MILITARY/SHUFFLE Colombia’s Santos wants to speed up peace process with FARC rebels

Record ID: 147814

  • Title: COLOMBIA-MILITARY/SHUFFLE Colombia’s Santos wants to speed up peace process with FARC rebels
  • Date: 9th July 2015
  • Summary: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (JULY 09, 2015) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT, JUAN MANUEL SANTOS, SAYING: "We have to make substantive decisions and once and for all decide if there is peace or if we remain at war. Because the time and patience of the Colombian people, as well as mine, are finite factors. They have their limits and they have become critical. Time h
  • Embargoed: 24th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cuba
  • Country: Cuba
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA8UMOQ608S9VAHQZY1AYX9IN98
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on Thursday (July 9) said he would like to see peace talks with leftist Colombian rebels "speed up" as the two sides work to a "definitive" ceasefire.
    Santos' statements come a day after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) announced on Wednesday (July 8) they are prepared to call a month-long unilateral ceasefire from July 20.
    The FARC announcement was seen as a potential boost to the 2-1/2-year-old peace talks that have been threatened by increased battlefield violence in recent months.
    "We are open to and we want to speed up these negotiations, these talks, to have this bilateral ceasefire ready and definitive, which is, after all, what we need to have if we want peace," Santos said a military ceremony.
    The FARC has long advocated a bilateral ceasefire, which the government has rejected saying the group has used previous attempts at such truces to rearm.
    Media speculation in Colombia is running high that Santos may soften his stance on the bilateral ceasefire amid concerns the process is floundering.
    Santos, who has said he would like to reach a peace agreement this year, said patience was running thin as the talks drag on.
    "We have to make substantive decisions and once and for all decide if there is peace or if we remain at war. Because the time and patience of the Colombian people, as well as mine, are finite factors. They have their limits and they have become critical. Time has started to work against the peace process," he said.
    The peace talks, which began in Havana at the end of 2012, have been the most substantive attempt to peace since the conflict started in 1964, killing 220,000 people and displacing millions.
    The FARC have called five other unilateral ceasefires during the course of the talks, varying in length from several weeks to five months.
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