COLOMBIA/FILE: Colombian singer Juanes attends peace rally and calls for change as Colombia nears peace negotiations with FARC rebels

Record ID: 349579

  • Title: COLOMBIA/FILE: Colombian singer Juanes attends peace rally and calls for change as Colombia nears peace negotiations with FARC rebels
  • Date: 23rd September 2012
  • Summary: SAN VICENTE DEL CAGUAN, COLOMBIA (FILE) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FARC MEMBERS DURING PAST PEACE TALKS FARC MEMBERS HOLDING GUN DURING CEREMONY
  • Embargoed: 8th October 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Colombia
  • Country: Colombia
  • Topics: Entertainment,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA4THDODLRU6WXFSN5XTVS929L5
  • Story Text: Colombian rocker and activist Juanes attended a peace conference on Friday (September 21) as the government of the South American country nears peace talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) which are slated to begin next month in Norway.
    The event was titled, "Es tiempo de cambiar" which is also a lyric in the rockers 2008 hit, Odio Por Amor, and means "it's time to change."
    The conference was organized by the Mi Sangre (My Blood) Foundation which was founded by the musician to educate adolescents and youth to become peace-makers in their communities.
    "We have to think of what we are doing wrong, of where the problem is or where it comes from. That's why we have to get the attention of parents, what is going on at home, how they are being educated, what is happening at school, look at what is happening that makes us so violent. I think this is really important, it is a time to reflect and to change this paradigm and put our minds elsewhere," Juanes said.
    Juanes made these comments as Colombia and the FARC, Latin America's longest-running insurgency, look to start peace talks next month in Norway before moving them to Cuba where many hope negations will end nearly five decades of violence in the South American country.
    Many pundits have said the government of President Juan Manuel Santos faces an uphill battle to reach a lasting agreement, but a former member of Northern Ireland's IRA Irish Republican Army, Henry Robinson, took part in the discussions and said they should remain optimistic.
    "In Northern Ireland, the conflict was 30 years. Here, the conflict is almost 50 years. It took three attempts to make peace in Northern Ireland and you are on your third attempt and it is just possible-- and that is really what I want to say-- it is possible to dream the impossible that this actually may lead to peace," Robinson said before greeting a man who was victimized by the IRA during the years of conflict there.
    The last attempt at peace in Colombia was more than a decade ago, but those talks collapsed and they were seen as having helped the FARC build up their fighting forces.
    Listed as a terrorist organization by U.S. and European officials, the group was set up in 1964 as a communist-inspired peasant army fighting to reduce the gulf that still divides rich and poor in the South American country.
    The FARC has survived various tactics by different governments over the years.
    It was relatively small until the 1980s when it was boosted by new strategies and an influx of drug money.
    By the 1990s, the rebels were raiding military bases and launching attacks on major towns, but their advances were then reversed after U.S. aid was sharply increased.
    Despite the focus on a military approach, many analysts say only a negotiated solution can put an end to nearly five decades of a war that has killed tens of thousands of people.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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