Former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe on Tuesday accused his successor Juan Manuel Santos of pandering to terrorists and allowing them to become “political figures.”
“How sad that FARC assassins and kidnappers today are political figures talking to the world with their tricks!” said Uribe on his Twitter account following the televised speeches made by Santos and FARC leader Timochenko on Tuesday.
Qué tristeza que asesinos y secuestradores de FARC hoy sean figuras políticas hablándole al mundo con sus engaños!
— Álvaro Uribe Vélez (@AlvaroUribeVel) September 4, 2012
Uribe who ruled from 2002 to 2010 slammed the peace talks announced with guerrilla group FARC and in an interview with Venezuelan television network Telesur accused Santos’ government of “starting the peace process without the cessation of criminal activities, of terrorist activities. Colombians are murdered while they continue the talks.”
Uribe, who during his time as president of Colombia cracked down hard on the FARC guerrillas, described the talks as “grave” and said that security has weakened in the two years since Santos’ take-over as leader.
“The government has arrived at this dialogue from a position of weakness and terrorism from a position of resurgent strength,” Uribe was quoted as saying by news agency Reuters. “Security has deteriorated significantly in the last two years.”
Santos in his televised speech on Tuesday however, said that his government had “learned from past mistakes” and there will be “no cessation of military operations.”
Former Colombian president Andres Pastrana, who had formerly been critical of the peace talks said on RCN Radio that Uribe is “the only Colombian who does not want to give peace a chance. The peace process by-passes Uribe, Santos doesn’t have to ask his permission.”
