Peace talks between the Colombian government and the country’s largest rebel group FARC are possible if the guerrillas show the will to disarm, said President Juan Manuel Santos in an interview Wednesday.
Santos told French newspaper Le Figaro that if the FARC support their words with action, peace talks can take place.
“I do not believe a word of the guerrillas as long as they do not demonstrate their desire for peace with actions. They have lied too often. But if there is clear evidence of their willingness to reach an agreement, if they abandon their terrorist behavior, we are not closed to peace negotiations,” Santos told Le Figaro.
“They must move from words to deeds. For example, by releasing all hostages,” the president added.
In the interview, Santos called on Europe to improve cooperation with Colombia to fight drug trafficking from the Andean nation. Apart from fighting domestic drug use, Europe should also “cooperate more regarding the rest of the chain of drug trafficking, for example through greater support for crop substitution policies, a more effective collaboration in the fight against money laundering. The collaboration on this subject is very poor,” said the Colombian president.
The FARC has been fighting the Colombian state since 1964 and fund their war partly through drug trafficking.