Negotiators of Colombia’s largest rebel group FARC announced that they and their government counterparts will not be holding peace talks for the duration of Friday’s decisive World Cup qualifier against Chile.
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At the daily rebel press conference in Cuba, FARC negotiator “Rodrigo Granda” told press that the rebels will watch the game after the end of the day’s talks.
“Colombia as a whole is currently buzzing with joy and celebration and hopefully everything will go well within and outside the game.We feel deeply for our Chilean brothers having to beat them, but the thing is we want to go to [the 2013 World Cup] in Brazil and we are going to,” Granda told reporters.
Dutch FARC guerrilla Tanja Nijmeijer added FARC rebels usually watch the national team’s soccer matches.
According to newspaper El Espectador, a reporter had said that the government negotiating team would also take a break in order to watch the match that will result in Colombia’s first qualification since 1998 if the “Cafeteros” beat Chile or draw.
Sources
- Las Farc verán el partido Colombia-Chile desde La Habana (El Espectador)