Following the FARC video calling for dialogue and the government’s response, a Jesuit priest involved in the “Dialogue is the Path” peace convention has said the civil society and radical sectors from the convention reject all forms of violence.
“Here we have a society that is asking for an end to the war without conditions because we cannot continue killing each other. Hostages must be released and there must be an end to ‘false positives’ and anti-personnel mines,” said Father Francisco de Roux.
He added, “the civil society that was here [at the convention] has the capacity and the force of moral authority to confront the armed groups.”
Although De Roux said the video released by FARC leader “Alfonso Cano” was a “call to dialogue,” he added the FARC’s contribution was also “the same as always from the FARC, that the state is to blame and the FARC are the defenders of the people.” He added, “no one in Colombia believes this argument.” The peace convention’s final declaration made no allusions to the FARC’s message.
President Juan Manuel Santos, who said Cano’s video was not a reliable proof of peaceful intentions and reasserted the government’s willingness to pursue the FARC into ‘prison or the grave,'” told convention representatives it was necessary to act with “discretion and decisiveness” in looking for an end to the conflict.