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Colombia

FARC leaders head to Havana

At least six leaders of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) guerrilla group headed to Cuba to take part in peace negotiations underway for two years with the Colombian government in Havana. Military operations were suspended in three areas in Colombia to facilitate the departure of the guerrilla leaders.

Among the FARc commanders is Felix Antonio Muñoz, alias Pastor Alape, one of seven members of the secretariat, the leading political and military body of the group.

With Muñoz’s participation, three secretariat members are in Cuba as part of the negotiating team. The other two are Iván Márquez and Pablo Catatumbo.

Other FARC commanders who travelled to Cuba include Carlos Antonio Lozada, second in command of the eastern bloc, and Edgar Lopez, alias “Pacho Chino”, head of the western bloc, and three leaders of the guerrilla structures in south-west Colombia.

The government of President Juan Manuel Santos asked the general attorney to suspend arrest warrants issued for 30 fARC members to facilitate their travel to the Caribbean Island.

The sides have already reached accords for access to land and production for the poor of the rural areas. Guarantees for an eventual transformation of the guerrilla into a political party and accords to combat drug trafficking and for the eradication of illegal crops.

President Santos two weeks ago personally authorized the participation in the talks in Havana in at least two occasions of the FARC top commander, Rodrigo Londoño Echeverri, alias ‘Timochenko’. The decision had sparked wide polemics in the nation. The conflict has been underway for over 50 years in Colombia and has left over 200 thousand dead. (CO/BO)