Colombia’s Catholic Church on Tuesday applauded an agreement on agrarian reform between the government and the FARC but urged the guerrilla group to give up their weapons.
The Cardinal Archbishop of Bogota, Ruben Salazar, while applauding the newly reached agreement, but added that it was extremely important that the rebel group would surrendered all their weapons at the end of the peace talks.
“Let there not be a single weapon, anywhere,” said the cardinal, urging also to “never again raise a weapon to defend an idea.”
According to Salazar, reaching an agrarian agreement was of particular importance. In his opinion the country’s unequal land distribution has been a major cause for the civil war that has plagued the country for half a century.
The archbishop said that this agreement could result in an effective agricultural development policy, which he hopes will prioritize and safeguard the rights and interest of peasant families.
Although the bishop praised the agreement that have been reached, he stressed the importance of speeding up the peace process. Salazar stated that it had taken the government and FARC six months to finally agree on the first point, before he said that “Colombians expect more results in the short term”.
The archbishop said it was important to create an atmosphere of peace and progress in Colombia, “do not stigmatize some people by calling them enemies of peace because that certainly is unfair,” Salazar concluded.
Sources
- Iglesia invita a las Farc a entregar hasta la última de sus armas (El Tiempo)
- Iglesia Católica pide celeridad en los diálogos entre el Gobierno y las Farc (Radio Caracol)
