The key to ending Colombia's seven-decade civil war could be the US

[Judi Lynn]

The key to ending Colombia's seven-decade civil war could be the US

Despite animosity between the Farc and the US, which considers the rebel group ‘narco-terrorists’, envoy Bernard Aronson is seen as a critical voice at peace talks



Sibylla Brodzinsky in Bogotá
Tuesday 19 May 2015 13.42 EDT

When Washington appointed a special envoy to peace talks between the Colombian government and the leftwing rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), it was billed as a show of support for the process and for President Juan Manuel Santos.

There is no love lost between the Farc and the US: Washington put the guerrilla group on its list of terrorist organizations in 1997 and poured billions of dollars of military aid into a campaign to defeat them. The rebels accuse the United States of imperialist meddling, and consider Americans among their most prized hostages.

. . .

Even if they aren’t shipped off to a US prison, the Farc worry about the security of their members in Colombia once they give up their guns.

And with good reason. As part of an attempted peace process in the 1980s the Farc created a small leftwing party called the Patriotic Union (UP). Those talks soon fell apart, and more than 3,000 members of the party, including two presidential candidates, were murdered during the 1980s and 1990s by rightwing paramilitaries linked to the armed forces. Many of those who escaped death went into hiding or exile.

More:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/19/colombia-peace-talks-farc-rebels-us-envoy-bernard-aronson

[Bacchus4.0]

1. They want to be excused for their murderous barbaric behavior they have inflicted on Colombia

for decades. Chupavergas. Here is what the peace process is really all about:



And many of those decisions, according to several sources close to the negotiations, hinge on the United States, including whether Farc members will face extradition to a US supermax prison and the security of former rebel fighters in a post-conflict Colombia.


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A life-size cardboard cutout which accompanies the Farc negotiation team in Havana is a symbol of their worst fears: it shows an image of rebel commander Simon Trinidad, who in 2004 was captured and extradited to the United States where he was convicted on terrorism charges. Trinidad, whose real name is Ricardo Palmera, is serving a 60-year sentence in a maximum-security prison in Colorado.