Colombia’s Vice President announced that the country’s Minister of Agriculture will resume negotiations with agricultural leaders in search of a deal to end ongoing nationwide agrarian strikes, national media reported.
According to Vice President Angelino Garzon, the Minister of Agriculture Ruben Dario Lizarralde is willing to resume dialogue with leaders of the Agrarian Dignity who represent the farmers protesting across Colombia for the last 12 days, Radio Santa Fe reported.
The talks between the government and the strike leaders were suspended on Tuesday in the Capital Bogota after the parties could not reach an agreement on the issue of refinancing the debts of small farmers. The negotiations were to reopen after the board of the Agricultural Bank met to establish the amount of debt to refinance.
Colombian farmers and small-scale miners have been protesting in a number of states across the country to highlight promises they claim the government has not delivered since the previous agrarian strikes last fall.
MORE: Colombia’s government and farmers suspend strike talks
In turn, the Minister of Agriculture said the government is completely willing to continue the dialogue, but that “incitement to violence, looting and blocking the roads” is not acceptable.
Lizarralde added that strike leaders are
“We will reach an agreement with or without the Agrarian Dignity leaders,” said the minister.
Lizarralde also met with the Deputy Prosecutor General on Wednesday concerning the progress of an investigation into fraud in the Coffee Support Program Income (PIC), an entity designed to pay stipends to coffee farmers if internal coffee prices fall below a certain point.
MORE: Coffee farmers will receive stipend: Santos
Sources
- Hoy se vuelven a sentar en la mesa Gobierno y campesinos (Caracol Radio)
- Gobierno y campesinos reanudan negociaciones para ponerle fin al paro agrario (Radio Santa Fe)