Colombia’s FARC rebels accused the Bogota government of staging fake battles as part of a “propaganda campaign” against the leftist insurgency, as both sides met for another day of peace talks yesterday.
The rebel group, which last week said it would unilaterally lay down its arms, accused the army of carrying out a “mock battle” last week to use as evidence of what the government calls FARC’s bad faith in the talks.
“This strategy of coming up with media shows and televised false flags is an old habit of the army in the region. Because of this, neither the farmers nor the indigenous of Cauca give them a shred of credibility,” said the FARC.
The rebel group yesterday renewed its pledge made six days ago to keep to its unilateral cease fire, even though the government has not countered with a cease fire plan of its own.
“We express our full compliance to unilateral cease offensive actions,” said FARC spokesman Ruben Zamora, as another day of negotiations got underway in Havana.
The FARC promised a unilateral two-month halt to military operations last Monday at the start of its latest negotiations with the government. But independent experts have said it will prove impossible to verify whether FARC really adheres to the ceasefire without external monitoring.
The closely-watched peace talks have raised hopes of finally ending what is Latin America’s longest-running insurgency.
This round of talks in Havana follows an initial round in Norway last month, and is the first bid for a negotiated peace in a decade.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - Latin America’s largest rebel group, founded in 1964 and believed to have some 9,000 armed fighters - took up arms to protest the concentration of land ownership in Colombia.
Several top commanders have been captured or killed in recent years as the group has suffered a string of military defeats and its ranks have been severely depleted since the peak of the now weakened group’s power in the 1990s.
The rebel group called on Colombia’s armed forces “and especially on the officers, the non-commissioned officers, soldiers and policemen to join the quest for a political solution to the conflict.”
Contrary to the government delegation led by former vice-President Humberto de la Calle, the FARC delegates have spoken to the press present in Cuba on a daily basis.
