Negotiators of Colombia’s government and the country’s largest rebel group, the FARC, resumed peace talks in Cuba after nearly three weeks of separately preparing a second cycle of talks.
Government sources told Spanish news agency EFE that the talks regarding the FARC’s possible future participation in politics will continue to be held in the Convention Palace in the Cuban capital of Havana.
The official new cycle had begun on June 11 after the two warring parties found agreement on the agenda point of the first cycle; agrarian reforms.
MORE: Colombia’s Peace Talks Take On FARC’s Political Participation
While the delegations in June announced to be separated for a week to speed up the process, the separate meetings instead took three weeks. Neither the FARC not the government have made statements as to why the meetings have been delayed.
The peace talks have suffered several setbacks over the past few weeks; neighboring country Venezuela threatened to withdraw its support for the peace talks after allegations Colombia was involved in a plot to overthrow the government in Caracas, violence broke out between farmers and police in one of the rebel group’s strongholds, the northern Catatumbo region, and government officials publicly rejected parts of the rebel group’s proposals for political participation.
MORE: Government Rejects FARC Proposal To Hold Constituent Assembly
The FARC’s political participation is the second of five talking points the two parties hope to agree on before signing a peace deal that would end nearly half a century of guerrilla violence.
BACKGROUND: Text of deal between Colombia’s government and rebel group FARC to end armed conflict