FARC leader “Timochenko” has fired off a flurry of incendiary tweets against the Colombian government less than two weeks before peace talks begin.
The supreme leader of the FARC Rodrigo Londoño Echeverri, better known by his alias, Timochenko, fumed via his Twitter account Tuesday with an array of accusations, including a claim that in the past 20 years the oligarchy has produced five million displaced people, 50,000 disappeared and 200,000 killed.
La mano firme de la oligarquía produjo 5 millones de desplazados, 50.000 desaparecidos, 200.000 asesinados en los últimos 20 años.
— Timoleon Jimenez (@timochenko_farc) September 25, 2012
The tweet was one in a series of vitriolic online comments levelled against President Juan Manuel Santos, just two weeks before official negotiations between the country’s largest guerrilla group FARC and the Colombian government begin. A relative newcomer to social media, Timochenko entered the world of Twitter on September 5.
Following the recent revelation that Santos and the guerrillas began secret peace negotiations in late 2010 at the initiative of now-killed FARC leader Alfonso Cano, Timochenko also posted that the government hopes to repeat the execution of Cano and are inviting dialogue while planning the final blow.
Confían en repetir otra vez la ejecución de Alfonso Cano. Invitan a dialogar mientras planean el golpe definitivo. Así han sido siempre.
— Timoleon Jimenez (@timochenko_farc) September 25, 2012
The continuation of hostilities while simultaneously trying to negotiate a peace settlement has been a major point of contention in Colombia. The prominent peace organization “Colombians for Peace” insisted both parties implement a bilateral ceasefire. The International Crisis Group, a respected NGO that analyzes conflict areas, also concluded that achieving a bilateral ceasefire in the early phase of negotiations should be a top priority.
