Colombia’s foreign minister on Monday denied knowing of secret peace talks between the administration of President Juan Manuel Santos and the country’s largest rebel group FARC.
Talking to the reporters in Mexico, Minister Maria Angela Holguin said to have “no knowledge” of talks between the government and the rebels as alleged by former President Alvaro Uribe.
“I would just like to reiterate that this is an issue handled by President Santos,” the foreign minister added.
Since Uribe began denouncing the alleged peace talks, the president has not responded to the allegations.
According to Santos’ predecessor, the president’s brother and members of the military are currently in Cuba to meet with FARC representatives.
The hard-line Uribe has always rejected peace talks.
However, in a 2010 diplomatic cable, the U.S. embassy in Bogota reported that the Uribe administration was “preparing ‘roadmaps’ for the next administration on how best to pursue peace agreements with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN).”
According to the embassy, then-Peace Commissioner Frank Pearl “acknowledged that the GOC had communicated with both groups in order to develop the road maps and build confidence.”
Since then, the Santos administration approved a bill that would allow displaced farmers to return to land stolen primarily by paramilitary groups, one of the demands of the FARC, and the FARC vowed to end kidnapping, one of the demands of the government.
The last open peace talks between the Colombian government and rebels were held between 1999 and 2002.