US President Barack Obama on Wednesday called his Colombian counterpart Juan Manuel Santos to “catch up” on pending issues and reiterate his support for ongoing peace talks with rebel group FARC and an eventual post-conflict Colombia.
Santos announced the surprise phone call on his Twitter account.
“Obama reiterated not just his support for the peace process, but also the post-conflict,” the Colombian head of state said.
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On his website Santos said “we talked about the bilateral agenda, about how different issues are going. We talked about the region, how we were seeing the situation in the region.”
“He wanted to know how the peace process is going. I explained him the progress, and I explained him the future challenges,” the Colombian president said.
What Santos found most important, he said, was that Obama “reiterated his absolute support for the peace talks” that began almost two years ago.
Colombia is one of Washington’s closest allies in Latin America and one of the sponsors of a major military offensive carried out against the FARC in the first decade of this century.
The US-backed offensive forced the guerrillas away from the cities and economically important areas, to the periphery of the South American country’s territory.
While not actively supporting the peace talks, Obama has previously expressed his support for ending the war.
Sources
- Obama reitera absoluto respaldo al proceso de paz y al posconflicto (President’s Office)