Colombian Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez said Wednesday that the exhibition of two statues honoring late FARC founder Manuel “Tirofijo” Marulanda and current FARC leader Jorge “Mono Jojoy” Briceño, in a Venezuelan border town adjacent to the eastern Colombian department of Arauca are “an affront to the Colombian people.”
“No one in the world could defend the right to make a monument in homage to a terrorist or a terrorist group that has only brought death, pain and panic to Colombia,” said Bermudez.
This is not the first time that Venezuela has paid homage to the FARC. In September 2008 Venezuela unveiled a statue of Tirofijo in “Plaza Marulanda” in the nation’s capital Caracas, following the FARC founder’s reported death in March 2008.
Bermudez was in Cucuta, Norte de Santander on Wednesday, to evaluate the situation of Colombians residing on the border with Venezuela.
The foreign minister also confirmed Wednesday that negotiations with Ecuador to normalize fractured diplomatic relations have been suspended until after Colombia’s presidential elections.
Ecuador said Wednesday that it would not consider resuming negotiations until Colombia had elected its new president.