The 11th round of peace talks between Colombia’s government and rebel group FARC ended Tuesday, with no agreement reached on the issue of political participation.
“Marco Leon Calarea,” a spokesmen for the rebel group acknowledged that the dirst round of talks of the second chapter that started two weeks ago had failed to yet produce any concrete results.
“There are still contrary positions and there is a debate, that should not scare us,” the rebel negotiator said.
The guerrilla group have continued to release their proposals on the issue of political participation throughout this round of negotiations, and continue to stress the need for a restructuring of the Colombian state, a restructuring of the armed forces and a constituent assembly to endorse and protect a final peace agreement.
According to Caracol however, the FARC have relaxed their position on the constituent assembly, seeing it as one of numerous options.
In a joint statement, the delegations of the government and rebel group stated that each side had presented their overview of political participation, and that proposals were exchanged on the first sub point “rights and guarantees for the exercise of a political opposition” and in particular for new movements arising after signing the final agreement.
Both delegations heard the views of two independent experts on the field of political participation, while Colombian groups were invited to share their proposals online.
The 12th round of peace talks will begin on July 22nd.
Sources
- COMUNICADO CONJUNTO #19 (Colombian government / FARC-EP)
- Sin acuerdos concluye ciclo entre Gobierno y Farc (Elespectador)
- Gobierno y Farc avanzaron en discusión de derechos de oposición (El Tiempo)
- Hoy concluye el ciclo en La Habana sobre participación política (Caracol)