Colombia’s largest rebel group, FARC, on Thursday called for free and universal education to be included in peace talks, in order to address the development deficit between rural and urban Colombia.
The most significant FARC proposals include universal and free primary and secondary education
However, it remains to be seen how far discussion on these proposals will go; on Thursday the chief government negotiator, Humberto de la Calle, said that the government would refuse to discuss “themes outside of the agreed agenda.”
When FARC pushed for the “demilitarization” of the country’s rural zones, the government negotiator made it very clear that the issue would not be discussed.
“The discussions are centered on the themes which are on the agenda. There will not be new points of discussion. For example, the theme of demilitarization of rural zones does not form part of the negotiation table, [we] will not demilitarize a single centimeter of the nation,” said de la Calle, who also stated that the Colombian armed forces would not let the guard down in the fight against the rebels.
Furthermore, the government negotiator said re-negotiation of the foreign debt and higher taxes for foreign companies active in Colombia, two key FARC demands at the the peace talks, would not become open for discussion.
Despite these differences, FARC negotiator “Jesus Santrich” said on Thursday that the rebels and the government could be “close to an agreement on agrarian reform.”
“Assuredly we are finishing an important cycle [in the peace process] with new approximations and a pretty big construction of the agreement,” said Santrich.
Meanwhile, on Thursday the commander of Colombia’s armed forces, General Alejandro Navas, said the FARC were “lying” when they claimed they were not involved in drug trafficking or kidnapping.
The general’s comments came in response to the FARC’s claim that they were not involved in drug trafficking, despite numerous pieces of evidence to the contrary.
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