Colombian vice-President Francisco Santos rejected the idea of a possible Cuban
mediation between Bogotá and the country’s largest rebel group FARC Wednesday.
Santos said a mediation wasn’t discussed in the meeting he had with Cuban vice-President Ricardo Cabrisas on the side of the UNASUR summit in Brazil.
“We didn’t speak about the FARC, because concerning peace negotiations in Colombia, president Uribe has said for now he only wants a direct relation,” Santos said.
“It is better not to have mediators at the moment to see if some progress can be made,” he added.
The vice-President did thank his Cuban counterpart for his country’s “generosity and solidarity” facilitating earlier peace negotiations with the National Liberation Army (ELN), Colombia’s second largest leftist rebel group.
Unfortunately the peace talks with the ELN didn’t lead anywhere, Santos said. “This process now, because of the decision of the ELN, hasn’t made ay progress and we don’t believe it will,” he said.