Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos declared “talk of peace will drive it away,” in his state of the union address Thursday.
The comments were made as Santos railed once more against the idea that dialogue could be opened up while leftist rebel groups such as the FARC and ELN continued to attack government targets and inflict civilian casualties.
But Santos added, “The door to dialogue is not locked.”
Addressing the various politicians and public figures who have spoken about peace in Colombia, Santos said, “We do not need spokesmen, neither national nor international, for that matter. Thank you very much, but for now, everything in its time.”
He backed up this message by saying, “The key to dialogue is in my pocket and I will not allow anyone to play with it. I have said many times that the best way to drive away dialogue is to keep talking about it.”
