Jew World Order

Christof Lehmann (nsnbc) : The apparently unannounced visit of FARC peace delegates in Colombia’s northern La Guajira province drew sharp criticism from the government. The delegation headed by FARC Chief Negotiator Ivan Marquez aimed at conveying the FARC’s position about the ongoing peace talks directly to the people. The visit comes against the backdrop of a previously reached agreement that guarantees the FARC political participation after the signing of a final peace accord, expected to be penned later this year.

Photo courtesy FARC-EP

The Colombian government denounced the visit of the five delegates of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – Peoples Army (FARC-EP) in La Guajira as a breach of the agreements reached during the peace talks that have been held in the Cuban capital Havana since 2012.

The government denounced the visit of Ivan Marquez, five other top FARC-EP leaders and 500 armed, uniformed FARC-EP soldiers on Friday as a breach of the agreement not to “interfere in politics” before the transformation of the FARC-EP from a guerrilla to a political organization.

One of the particular points of criticism was that the delegates and soldiers were not accompanied by Colombian police or military.

Iván Márquez, FARC-EP Chief Negotiator.

It is noteworthy that a bilateral ceasefire between the government and the FARC-EP came into effect on January 1, 2016 and that the ceasefire largely has held.

The FARC-EP insists that the visit took place because there was a need to talk directly to local communities to explain the progress that had been achieved during the peace talks that led to the signing of several landmark agreements.

These agreements include agreements on rural and land reform, an agreement on illicit drugs, and not least, the agreement on political participation of that FARC and many of Colombia’s grassroots movements.

One of the problems that communities in FARC dominated areas as well as FARC-EP fighters experience is that the decommissioning of arms makes these communities vulnerable to violence, attacks and extortion by ultra-right-wing neo-paramilitaries including Los Urabenos as well as to drug traffickers.

Local Military Commander caught in a Quagmire

The local military commander, Colonel Ilver Gonzalez, decided to keep his military units away from the delegation and the 500 FARC-EP fighters to avoid a disastrous confrontation that would have ended the volatile bilateral ceasefire. However, Colonel Gonzalez blasted the FARC-EP  and implicitly the government and military for the incident by saying that this should have been managed by the Colombian military’s High Command and not by a local Commander like him and his troops.

The FARC-EP is still designated as a terrorist organization in Colombia even though both the FARC-EP and the government recently lobbied the European Union Parliament to remove the FARC-EP from the EU terror list. The question about the FARC’s designation in Colombia is both political and technical. The government states that it wants to change the FARC’s designation as terrorist organization once a final peace accord that ends 51 years of civil war has been signed. The position almost forces the government to respond with a rhetoric condemnation of the delegation’s visit to La Guajira and the show of force implied by the presence of some 500 FARC-EP soldiers.

What else could the Santos Administration say without committing political Hara Kiri

Government Chief Negotiator de la Calle. Photo courtesy Prensa Latina

The administration of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos blasted the FARC-EP for the incident. Criticism focused, however, mainly on the presence of the 500 armed and uniformed FARC-EP soldiers at the event. Peace talks have resulted in the agreement that FARC-EP leaders are allowed to move around freely in the country to ease the FARC’s transition from a guerrilla to a political movement and to facilitate the peace process even though the FARC-EP is “officially” still designated as terrorist organization.

The government stressed, however, that it never agreed to allow armed FARC-EP units to travel openly or to accompany FARC leaders. The situation put Santos and his administration into a political quagmire. Not criticizing the presence of 500 FARC-EP guerrilla at the event would cost dearly in terms of political support from large segments of Colombia’s electorate. Santos and his administration are, however, also aware of the risk that unprotected FARC leaders would take by holding meetings without protection and by rendering the leadership as soft targets for neo-paramilitaries.

Humberto de la Calle, Chief Negotiator for the Colombian government denounced the FARC-EP for breaching agreements regarding restrictions on the FARC-EP’s “public outreach”. La Calle noted that the FARC-EP’s negotiators had agreed to not to approach the civilian population while in Colombia, and especially not accompanied by several hundred armed men. De la Calle issued a press statement, saying:

“For this reason, the government asked the International Committee of the Red Cross and the host countries, Cuba and Norway, to take the necessary measures so that the group led by Ivan Marquez returns to Havana as soon as possible”.

De la Calle escalated the confrontational course by also calling for the suspension of FARC negotiators visits to the FARC-EP camp where the guerrilla is preparing its troops for the decommissioning of the FARC-EP’s weapons. An accord on the details of the disarmament process and the demobilization of FARC-EP units has yet to be reached.

FARC calls Government’s Response unjustified – ELN dressed up for Official Peace Talks but Nowhere to Go

The FARC-EP, for its part, called the government’s sharp response as unjustified and as an attempt to isolate the peace delegation from sectors of Colombia’s civil society who are interested in knowing the FARC’s position about the progress at the peace talks. The Central Command of the FARC-EP issued a statement on the Peace Delegation’s website, saying among other:

“Nonexistent commitments in the protocols — agreed by the parties for the transfer of the delegates of the FARC-EP in Colombia in order to socialize the progress of the process with the guerrilla combatants and the masses that have historically accompanied us — shouldn’t be used to ignore the right to free information that applies to all citizens. … We invite the National Government to work in order to overcome this impasse.”

ELN disappointed about government’s failure to appoint new time and place to elevate talks to official status.

Both the FARC-EP and the Colombian government aim at signing a final peace accord that ends 51 years of civil war in Colombia this year, although it may not be penned as early as in March.

Unofficial negotiations have also been held between the government and Colombia’s second-largest leftist guerrilla, the National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional) – ELN .

The ELN stressed that it is ready to take the talks to the next level and to officially participate in the peace talks in Havana. The ELN expressed its disappointment over the fact that the government has failed to appoint  a time and a date for new back channel talks that would lead to official peace talks.

CH/L – nsnbc 20.02.2016