Colombia’s largest rebel group the FARC confirms the arrival of two more guerrilla delegates to the peace talks in Havana, Cuba.
The new arrivals, identified on the FARC’s peace-talk blog as Laura Villa and Sergio Ibáñez, will support the rebel group’s negotiating body in peace talks with the Colombian government.
MORE: Warrants lifted for FARC leaders to attend peace talks
“Laura Villa and Sergio Ibañez landed at 5.30PM yesterday [Monday] at Jose Marti airport to join the FARC’s peace delegation in Havana, Cuba,” the FARC blog stated on Tuesday.
The guerrillas were reportedly collected from a “mountainous region” of La Macarena municipality in central Colombia’s Meta department, and transferred to San Jose airport nearby. The two guerrillas were then flown to Havana.
A photograph was also published showing the rebels reuniting with other members of the FARC negotiating body in Cuba, including Rodrigo Granda, alias “Ricardo Tellez,” and Luis Alberto Alban, alias “Marco Leon Calarca”.
In the announcement the FARC stated that the new guerrillas’ presence in Cuba highlights the “commitment and will power” of the rebel group with regards to the peace process. They added that the addition of the new negotiators comes as “a blow to the enemies of peace, led by [Colombia’s former President Alvaro] Uribe Velez.”
The rebel group condemned Uribe’s recent behaviour, after the former president published on twitter secret coordinates of the pickup points for new rebel negotiators.
“Like a criminal, as he is used to behaving, published the coordinates of where the new negotiators were being picked up, putting the operation at risk,” the statement read.
MORE: Alvaro Uribe tweets confidential military information
President Juan Manuel Santos on Monday confirmed that the operation to allow the guerrillas to leave Colombia safely had been completed “without any problems.”
The FARC and the government negotiators concluded the seventh round of talks on March 30 without reaching an agreement on the topic of agriculture, the first point on the agenda.
MORE: FARC, Colombian govt postpone peace talks
The negotiations are expected to start again on the third week in April, when they will reportedly try to resolve agrarian issues and move on to the discussions regarding political participation.
Sources
- Fue un éxito la extracción de nuevos integrantes de la Delegación de Paz de las FARC-EP (Blog de la delegacion de paz FARC)
- Las Farc confirman llegada a Cuba de dos nuevos guerrilleros para su equipo (W Radio)
- Conozca los ‘refuerzos’ de las Farc en su equipo negociador (El Tiempo)
