Representatives of Colombia’s government and the country’s largest rebel group FARC are negotiating a peace deal as asserted by former President Alvaro Uribe, radio station W reported Thursday.
According to the radio station, it was able to confirm Uribe’s allegations that meetings have been held in Cuba to discuss peace.
“The government considers that disarmament is an issue that can not be postponed and is included in a four-point agenda that is followed by government officials and certain members of the guerrilla,” the radio station claimed.
W Radio said it could not confirm Uribe claims that members of Colombia’s military are involved in the talks.
While Santos has not responded to Uribe who has fiercely rejected possible peace talks, Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon denied army generals were involved in talks.
Following Uribe’s assertion, Colombia’s political parties and military leadership expressed their support for Santos and the posssibility of a negotiated end of Colombia’s 48-year-old conflict.
Santos has so far publicly rejected talks with the 48-year-old insurgency. In June, the president said it was too soon for peace talks.
“Only when we are absolutely convinced that the circumstances are right that this dialogue will be under our control, then we will think of opening a dialogue,” said the president.
Santos’ predecessor has always openly rejected peace talks with the FARC until the guerrilla group ceases violence. However, in a 2010 diplomatic cable, the U.S. embassy in Bogota reported that the Uribe administration was “preparing ‘roadmaps’ for the next administration on how best to pursue peace agreements with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN).
According to the embassy, then-Peace Commissioner Frank Pearl “acknowledged that the GOC had communicated with both groups in order to develop the road maps and build confidence.”
Since then, the Santos administration approved a bill that would allow displaced farmers to return to land stolen primarily by paramilitary groups, one of the demands of the FARC, and the FARC vowed to end kidnapping, one of the demands of the government.
The last open peace talks between the Colombian government and rebels were held between 1999 and 2002.
