- Title: Cuba will continue to act as peace broker between Colombia and FARC
- Date: 9th July 2020
- Summary: HAVANA, CUBA (JULY 9, 2020) (AGENCY POOL) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** CUBAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER ROGELIO SIERRA ARRIVING AT NEWS CONFERENCE AND TAKING OFF FACE MASK JOURNALISTS AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CUBAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER, ROGELIO SIERRA, SAYING: "For Cuba, it is contradictory that, on one hand, the government of Colombia recognizes the role that my country has played, both in the peace process and in the implementation of the agreements between the FARC and the government. And, on the other hand, it (Colombia) does not recognise that there is a peace dialogue with the ELN and there is an agreement signed by the Colombian government with the guarantor countries that it does not recognise, in the case of the dialogue with the ELN." SIERRA SPEAKING AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CUBAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER, ROGELIO SIERRA, SAYING: "Cuba, during these years in which it has acted as a guarantor for Colombia's peace processes, has always gone about its work with much transparency, discretion and impartiality, always with the desire to achieve a just and comprehensive peace for Colombia's people." SIERRA AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CUBAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER, ROGELIO SIERRA, SAYING: "Cuba has decided, for the moment, to maintain its status as a guarantor country in the implementation of the peace process between the FARC and the government of Colombia. Cuba expects the Colombian government to comply with the agreements it has signed with other nations, including Cuba, especially with regard to the application of the protocol for the cessation of peace talks between Colombian government and ELN." JOURNALIST RECORDING SIERRA'S CONFERENCE
- Embargoed: 23rd July 2020 18:08
- Keywords: Colombia Cuba Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Rogelio Sierra FARC
- Location: HAVANA, CUBA
- City: HAVANA, CUBA
- Country: Colombia
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001CM39Q9Z
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Cuban deputy foreign minister Rogelio Sierra said on Thursday (July 9) the Caribbean island country would continue to act as a guarantor for talks between the Colombian government and the FARC political party.
Sierra told journalists in Havana that Cuba would continue its role brokering peace "for the moment," amid tensions between his country and the Colombian government over talks with the ELN rebel group.
Colombia inked a peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels in late 2016, ending the group's role in more than five decades of conflict which killed 260,000 people.
Implementation of the accord, which saw some 13,000 FARC members demobilize, has faced some significant hurdles, including the announcement last year by several former commanders that they were rearming.
Leadership of the FARC, now a political party, has repeatedly decried what it says are mediocre government efforts to protect members targeted for assassination by dissident fighters and drug traffickers.
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