Colombia’s Ministry of Defense informed Prosecutor General Eduardo Montealegre Tuesday of an alleged rebel FARC assassination plot against his life.
The announcement was made moments after Defense Minister Juan Pinzon accused the FARC of a similar assassination plot against former President Alvaro Uribe.
MORE: ‘FARC plotting to kill Uribe’: Colombia defense minister
In tandem with the announcements, President Juan Manuel Santos ordered the immediate formation of public protection units to safeguard the public figures and their families.
The Santos administration accused the FARC’s Teofilo Forero Mobile Column of the alleged assassination plots.
Even with the alleged threats against his life, according to local radio station Radio W, Montealegre continues to support the peace talks taking place between the FARC and the government in Havana, Cuba.
While peace talks took a major step forward last week with the announcement of an agreement on the second of six planned negotiation topics — political participation — both the rebels and the military continue to carry out military operations against one another.
No ceasefire arrangement was reached prior to the start of talks nearly one year ago, and even should the terms of a ceasefire emerge from the next round of negotiations, any such agreement would be contingent on the passage of a broader peace deal.
November 19th marks the one-year anniversary of the talks. The issues of demobilization, drug trafficking, reparations for victims and implementation are still left to be resolved, in a process that promises to bring an end to almost 50 years of armed conflict between the FARC and the Colombian state.
Sources
- Las Farc también pretendían atentar contra el fiscal general (Radio W)
- Las FARC también planeaban atentar contra el Fiscal General de Colombia (Europa Press)