CUBA: FARC rejects accusations of peasant attempts to sway talks

Record ID: 349714

  • Title: CUBA: FARC rejects accusations of peasant attempts to sway talks
  • Date: 8th July 2013
  • Summary: HAVANA, CUBA (JULY 08, 2013) (REUTERS) NEGOTIATING TEAM FROM THE REVOLUTIONARY ARMED FORCES OF COLOMBIA (FARC) ARRIVING TO CONVENTION CENTRE FOR ONGOING PEACE TALKS WITH COLOMBIAN GOVERNMENT CAMERAMEN FARC DELEGATION MEMBERS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) NEGOTIATOR FOR THE FARC, JESUS SANTRICH, SAYING: "Minister Carrillo, one cannot expect to avoid the commitments and
  • Embargoed: 23rd July 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cuba
  • Country: Cuba
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA1BSURTX3WE9TAXJ8EW0FN7U1B
  • Story Text: FARC negotiators on Monday (July 08) sharply rejected a Colombian official's accusations that the rebel group is trying to sway peace talks in Havana through ongoing peasant protests.
    For a month, farmers in the Catatumbo region of northeast Colombia that borders Venezuela have blocked main highways in the area. The farmers have called for land reform, including the establishment of reserved areas for farmers.
    Interior Minister Fernando Carrillo upset rebel negotiators when he told Colombia's El Tiempo newspaper that the FARC was trying to use the protests to influence the peace negotiations that continue in Havana.
    "Minister Carrillo, one cannot expect to avoid the commitments and social duties of the state with arrogance. To justify the repression, you cannot accuse the Catatumbo farmers and their spokespeople of being infiltrated or belonging to the FARC. One should not stigmatize but look at their settlers as what they are: farmers, humble people who, long before the peace process started in Havana, have peacefully called out for their violated rights with a fair agenda and their own voice," FARC negotiator Jesus Santrich said.
    He added that both sides agreed to find ways to end the conflict without weapons, and he urged the government to take the same approach to the protesters.
    "Havana is a place where we try to find roads to peace for our country. Why then discredit this cause with unfortunate expressions? Hopefully Colombia, right now, can turn not into just a branch of such an undertaking but into the main stage where justice, understanding and reconciliation take shape involving all our compatriots without exception. We agree in looking for ways to do politics without weapons, but the government cannot criminalise and respond to a social protest with weapons," Santrich said.
    Colombia's government asked farmers last week to abandon the blocked highways in order to begin negotiations with their leaders and solve the conflict in the region. Four farmers have died from gunshot wounds fired by security forces in the town of Ocana since the protests started, according to local media.
    Colombia's government has been in peace negotiations in Cuba with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, since November in the hope of ending five decades of war.
    FARC's negotiations with the government deal with issues including disarmament, land reform and political participation.
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