A jailed FARC negotiator has sent a letter to Colombia’s president expressing his willingness for peace, reported local media Thursday.
In a letter addressed to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, captured FARC leader Juvenal Ovidio Ricardo Palmera, alias, “Simon Trinidad,” expressed his willingness for peace and said he embraced his upcoming role in negotiations.
The revelation came during his trial for the kidnapping of Consuelo Gonzalez, who was part of a group of politicians and soldiers held by the FARC. As Trinidad is currently incarcerated in the U.S., he participated in the hearing via a video conference.
Trinidad is already serving a 60-year sentence in the U.S. for conspiracy and kidnapping. The FARC leader was also allegedly involved in the 2002 murder of a young boy accused of being an informant for the army.
The FARC luminary was the financial manager of the country’s largest guerrilla group FARC and was the first guerrilla to be extradited to the U.S. in 2004. He was commander of the Caribbean bloc and has 11 security measures in place and 28 arrest warrants against him. Trinidad will take place in the forthcoming negotiations from his position in the U.S.
The guerrillas enter negotiations starting October 8 in the Norwegian capital of Oslo, and will later continue in Cuba’s capital Havana. These will be the first peace talks since 2002, when attempts failed to end the country’s now 48-year armed conflict.