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Judi Lynn

(160,211 posts)
Sun Aug 31, 2014, 12:20 AM Aug 2014

Breakthroughs and Hurdles in Colombia’s Peace Talks

Breakthroughs and Hurdles in Colombia’s Peace Talks
Analysis by Constanza Vieira

BOGOTA, Aug 25 2014 (IPS) - Three major advances were made over the last week in the peace talks that have been moving forward in Cuba for nearly two years between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrillas, while the decades-old civil war rages on.

On Saturday Aug. 16, a group of relatives of victims of both sides met face-to-face in the Cuban capital. It was the first time in the world that victims have sat down at the same table with representatives of their victimisers in negotiations to put an end to a civil war. And on Thursday Aug. 21 an academic commission was set up to study the roots of the conflict and the factors that have stood in the way of bringing it to an end.

That day, the unthinkable happened.

High-level army, air force, navy and police officers flew to Cuba, under the command of General Javier Alberto Flórez, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In the 24-hour technical mission they met with their archenemies, the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which emerged in 1964) to discuss “how to implement a definitive bilateral ceasefire, and how the FARC would disband and lay down their arms,” said President Juan Manuel Santos.

Santos described the participation of active officers in the talks, as part of a subcommission installed on Friday Aug. 22, as “a historic step forward.”

More:
http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/08/breakthroughs-and-hurdles-in-colombias-peace-talks/

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Breakthroughs and Hurdles in Colombia’s Peace Talks (Original Post) Judi Lynn Aug 2014 OP
That's good news.. Louisiana1976 Aug 2014 #1
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