There will be no peace in Colombia before its government realizes "structural" social and political changes, the country's largest insurgency, the FARC, said in a statement Wednesday.
In an open letter to peace group Colombians for Peace, the rebel group "assured all those who call for surrender: We will not give up after more than 40 years of fighting, nor accept a false peace where the oligarchic minority continue owning all wealth while the great majority are crushed by the weight of poverty, military terror, misery and moral degradation of a corrupt ruling class."
The country's oldest and largest guerrilla movement, considered a terrorist group by both the U.S. and Europe, says it "will not betray the dreams of justice of Colombia that demands a peace with social justice, nor the memory of the thousands of deaths and victims of the countless tragedies that occurred in this cruel war declared to the people by the oligarchy more than 50 years ago."
Despite the FARC's apparent will to fight, the guerrilla leadership calls on Colombian social movements to work towards a "Great National Peace Deal" and construct an "alternative policy".
The FARC, originally founded by peasants to fight social injustice, has been involved in a war with the Colombian State for 45 years and has been accused by human rights organizations of numerous human rights violations.
