CUBA: Calls for U.S. participation, new leaders join talks

Record ID: 349849

  • Title: CUBA: Calls for U.S. participation, new leaders join talks
  • Date: 28th February 2014
  • Summary: HAVANA, CUBA (FEBRUARY 28, 2014) (REUTERS) PEACE NEGOTIATORS REPRESENTING THE REVOLUTIONARY ARMED FORCES OF COLOMBIA (FARC) ARRIVING TO PEACE TALKS FARC DELEGATION AT NEWS CONFERENCE FARC REBEL COMMANDER, FABIAN RAMIREZ, NEWEST MEMBER TO JOIN PEACE TALKS JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FARC PEACE NEGOTIATOR, IVAN MARQUEZ, SAYING: "The arrival of Fabian (Ramirez), Fidel
  • Embargoed: 15th March 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cuba
  • Country: Cuba
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA4D4TUU4W6Y9TF8PI4NH0G4DJF
  • Story Text: Colombia's FARC rebels asked for the United States to join its peace talks with the Colombian government, saying on Friday (February 28) it would speed up the process because Washington was making all the important decisions anyway.
    The Colombian government and the U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to the request, which was likely to be rejected by the Colombian government on the grounds of national sovereignty.
    The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) also announced on Friday that guerrilla commander Fabian Ramirez, leader of a faction known as the Southern Bloc, had joined the peace talks along with two other FARC leaders in a significant sign of rebel unity.
    Ramirez's participation was likely to quell speculation of a split within the FARC negotiating team.
    "The arrival of Fabian (Ramirez), Fidel (Rondon) and Jairo (Martinez) means the FARC is committed to finding a political solution to the hemisphere's longest conflict," Ivan Marquez, head of the FARC's negotiating team in Havana, told reporters before entering the latest round of talks.
    For the past 15 months Cuba has hosted talks aimed at ending a half-century guerrilla conflict, the longest in Latin America, which has claimed some 200,000 lives and displaced millions more.
    The FARC criticized what is said was a recent encounter between the United States and Colombia in which it said Colombian Defence Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon met with the U.S. State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
    Reuters has not confirmed whether such a meeting took place.
    "If the government in Bogota is so interested in getting the blessing of the United States, the FARC insists on the participation of a representative from that country be made possible in the talks," Marquez said.
    "We are discussing a matter of interest for the United States and you know it. We are referring to the substitution of illicit crops and the drug trafficking problem. And as you might have noticed, with the violation of Minister Pinzon's schedule in the United States, the one who is really determining what happens here or not is the U.S. government. So, we would like to speak directly with the government of the United States and are certain we would reach an understanding much quicker," added Marquez.
    The United States provided Colombia with military aid to fight the FARC and other armed guerrilla groups that have sought to overthrow the Colombian government and formed alliances with drug traffickers.
    For decades, leftist insurgents in Latin America have claimed Washington was directing governments and military strategy in Latin America.
    The complaint held more resonance during the Cold War when the Americans actively participated in military coups and carried outsized clout in making Latin American economies friendly to U.S. business interests.
    Since the end of the Cold War and the attacks of September 11, 2001, however, many analysts have commented that Washington has lost interest in Latin America, even ignored the region.
    So far the peace talks have resulted with the two sides reaching tentative agreement on two of six major topics, on land use and the FARC's political future as an unarmed group.
    They are progressing toward a third agreement on the matter of drug trafficking.
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