Alfonso Cano, leader of Colombia’s largest guerrilla movement FARC,
says the future of Colombia can not be civil war. According to Cano,
interviewed extensively by Spanish magazine Cambio 16, the rebels are
willing to talk peace, also with current President Álvaro Uribe.
Cano said the guerrillas would sit down with the government to “seek agreements that could lead to an exchange of prisoners of war and create the enviroment for subsequent phases to pave roads to peace agreements.” The FARC leader did demand guarantees about how, when and where, claiming the FARC in earlier peacetalks were cheated.
Cano downplayed the government’s successes in pushing the marxist guerrillas into defense, saying that despite the tripling the number of members of the security forces, the war budget and the presence of “gringo soldiers”, the FARC completely retain their block structure, command structure, fronts and strategic columns under the leadership of its Central Command.”
The FARC-leader denies his group has or ever had anything to do with drug trafficking. Accusations like that are part of the government propaganda to legitimize its battle, he said. Cano accused the Colombian state of being a “narco-state” and using drug trafficking revenue to uphold the political and economic power of some.