Last weekend Colombian journal El Espectador revealed that the government of President Juan Manuel Santos and the Fuerzas Armandas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces⎯FARC) have made preliminary moves toward the launch of peace negotiations, initiating a series of opinions and speculation from different sectors of the Colombian government.
According to a report on Monday on Telesur, negotiations between the two parties began in Havana in May, assisted by representatives from Norway, Cuba and Venezuela. The formal opening of the peace negotiations will take place in Oslo on October 5, and will be continued in Cuba. The agenda for the negotiation will include topics such as demobilization, cessation of hostilities and disarmament.
Governmental sources noted that the Executive would not comment “for now” on the report issued by Telesur. However, these sources did confirm a meeting held Monday between President Santos and former OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria, a potential negotiator with the FARC.
While journalists and politicians discussed the details of the negotiation, agents of the Fiscalía General de Colombia arrested 22 members of the FARC in the department of Antioquia in northwestern Colombia. The detainees were seized on charges of rebellion, terrorism, and production, trafficking or possession of firearms and narcotics.
