Colombian media reported Wednesday that there will be two Cuban and two Norwegian guarantors in the peace negotiations between the government of Colombia and the FARC.
While Cuban and Norwegian governments have not confirmed, Radio Caracol named the delegates who will supposedly be involved in the peace talks formally begun by Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos on Tuesday.
Cuban delegates are Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, Ambassador to Canada during the 1990s, and Abel Garcia, reportedly heavily involved in the union sector of that country.
The first guarantor for the Norwegian government was reported to be Dag Halvor Nylander. A lawyer who was a Special Envoy for the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was Head of Mission in the Norwegian Embassy in Bogota from 2006- 2008. Nylander also worked as the delegate for his country in the U.N. in New York, and in the Buenos Aires embassy.
The second Norwegian is claimed to be S. Vegar Brynildsen, an international affairs expert who previously was involved in the peace talks between the Phillippine government and the MILF guerrillas.
This is the first attempt at peace negotiations since 2002 when three years of talks in a safe-haven the size of Switzerland ended in the FARC taking the opportunity to expand and strengthen their forces, never stopping their kidnappings and drug-trafficking.