The Colombian government and the FARC are to receive more than 400 proposals solicited from agricultural producers and peasant farmers during a forum run by the United Nations, ahead of the resumption of peace talks next week.
United Nations delegates on Wednesday will deliver the proposals to the Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos in Bogota, and also to chief negotiators for Colombia’s largest left wing guerilla force FARC in Cuba’s capital of Havana, local media reported.
The proposals were made by more than 1200 people representing over 500 organizations, over a three day agricultural and rural development forum that took place in December 2012. The forum brought together many diverse groups to discuss issues such as rural poverty eradication and land distribution, among others.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) conducted the forum, and gave interested parties the opportunity to contribute to the ongoing peace talks between the Colombian government and the FARC.
Land reform has long been a central issue for the FARC, and many commentators have noted Colombia’s rural inequality as both a precipitatator and continuing justification for the nation’s ongoing internal conflict. FARC’s chief negotiator in the peace talks, Ivan Marquez, has gone as far to say that “the fate of Colombia rests on its solution“.
Peace negotiations resume Monday 14th of January in Havana, Cuba.