FARC, Government Meet on Reviving Colombia Peace Talks
Negotiators from Colombia's government and Marxist FARC rebels met Tuesday on resuming peace talks in which the balance of power likely has shifted after rebels freed five army captives.
In their first meeting since President Juan Manuel Santos suspended the talks over the capture of an army general, negotiators from the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia gathered behind closed doors in Havana to discuss getting negotiations back on track.
"The recent successes, which demonstrate the strength of the process and the capacity to overcome obstacles from Havana, should make us take a leap forward," said the government's chief negotiator, Humberto de la Calle, on the sidelines of the meeting.
After a first closed-door meeting that took more than four hours, there were no agreements on pending issues, according to a source who said the talks were moving along "calmy and respectfully." The talks resume Wednesday.
Analysts said the FARC's show of strength in capturing General Ruben Alzate, their highest-ranking captive in 50 years of conflict -- coupled with their readiness to compromise by releasing him two weeks later -- likely gave them added bargaining power.
The rebels have called on the government to change the "rules of the game" for the negotiations following Alzate's release, and their leader, Timoleon Jimenez, alias Timochenko, said last week that the talks "can't just resume as they were."
The FARC's top demand is for a bilateral ceasefire, which Santos has repeatedly rejected on grounds that the guerrillas would use it to regroup, drawing out the war.
The Colombian government now finds itself in a delicate position, said a Latin American diplomat who has closely followed the talks.
"A general was taken prisoner, and worse... they weren't able to rescue him. They had to rely on the guerrillas' good faith," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
- Tearful retirement -
Santos, who has staked his presidency on the peace process, said he did not believe the crisis sparked by General Alzate's capture had "seriously wounded" the negotiations.
He also praised Alzate, who he said would keep his military decorations and had done the "praiseworthy, respectable" thing by stepping down after his release.
Alzate, 55, who headed a task force charged with fighting rebels and drug traffickers in the jungle-covered Choco department, was captured on November 16 along with a corporal and an adviser as they traveled by boat to visit a local energy project.
They were wearing civilian clothes at the time and traveling without a security detail.
In a further embarrassment to the army, the FARC posted a picture on Twitter of the captured general arm-in-arm with guerrilla commander Felix Antonio Munoz, alias Pastor Alape, over a banner that read: "Peace will triumph."
In a press conference Monday, the day after his release, the general fought back tears as he admitted he had "not applied security procedures" and announced he would retire.
He said he had tried to keep a low profile to win the confidence of the Choco population, which "deserves our attention."
The remote western department, the poorest in Colombia, has been hard hit by the five-decade guerrilla war.
The Colombian conflict has killed more than 220,000 people and uprooted 5.3 million since the FARC was founded in the aftermath of a peasant uprising in 1964.
The Havana talks, the fourth attempt at peace negotiations, are the most promising effort yet to end the guerrilla war in Colombia.
With an estimated 8,000 fighters, the FARC is the largest rebel group active in a conflict that has at various times also drawn in right-wing paramilitaries and drug traffickers.
Santos has also announced plans to open talks with the second-largest rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), which has an estimated 2,500 fighters.
