The U.S. insisted Thursday that veteran guerrilla Simon Trinidad will not be allowed to join the ongoing peace negotiations between Colombia’s government and FARC and will instead remain in prison.
The U.S. State Department quashed any reports of the convicted FARC leader being given a presidential pardon so that he could participate in the talks.
Instead Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs for the State Department Mike Hammer revealed that “Trinidad committed crimes and will continue to serve his time in jail.”
This comes after it was reported that Colombia’s largest guerrilla group FARC had requested that US president Barack Obama pardon the former guerrilla, who is currently serving a 60-year prison sentence in a maximum-security prison in the U.S. for kidnapping.
Now however it seems that the chances of Trinidad joining the peace talks have completely gone as the US remain unmoved in their stance.
“We are not part of the peace process in Colombia, although of course we support the efforts of President Juan Manuel Santos, but we believe it is extremely important that the Colombian people can finally live in peace and tranquillity,” added Hammer in an online press conference.