Colombia must acknowledge its conflict: Mayor of Bogota

“The primary necessity is for Colombia to acknowledge that it has a conflict,” declared the Bogota Mayor Wednesday at a forum on challenges facing Colombia’s cities.

During the forum, held Wednesday in the Colombian capital, Mayor Samuel Moreno Rojas stated that the most important step for the country was to acknowledge that it was suffering from an internal conflict that was generating serious displacement and poverty, reported news station RCN.

Former presidents and officials also present at the forum agreed with the mayor about the conflict, which is currently moving from rural zones to urban centres such as Bogota, with the displacement of thousands of refugees from the countryside to the cities.

According to the mayor, Bogota has taken steps to prevent any repeat of the events in the city’s Parque Tercer Milenio in early 2009, when some 7,000 displaced people from other regions of the country were forced to settle in the park for several months.

“Presidents of the nations that are currently experiencing internal conflict must have the political will to initiate a peace process in accordance with the needs of the population,” said former president of Guatemala Vinicio Cerezo, who managed peace negotiations in his country in 1986 and was also present at the forum.

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