Colombia’s peace talks with leftist FARC guerillas to try and end Latin America’s longest-running insurgency will begin next month in Norway before moving to Cuba, President Juan Manuel Santos said on Tuesday.
Unlike past failed negotiations with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia rebels, however, there will be no ceasefire this time, Santos said in a national TV address.
“I ask the Colombian people for patience and strength,” Santos said, announcing the talks would start in the first half of October. “There’s no doubt it’s time to turn the page.”
While Colombians are hopeful Santos will succeed, he faces a monumental task to reach peace with the FARC, which has holed up in Colombia’s jungle territory since 1964 and imposed tough demands in past peace negotiations.
In a video message broadcast to journalists in Cuba, the FARC’s bearded leader Rodrigo Londono, known by his war alias Timochenko, urged a “civilised dialogue” to end the bloodshed.
Santos, 61, who is at the mid-point of a four-year term, had repeatedly said he would consider talks with the FARC only if he was certain the drug-funded group would negotiate in good faith.
