The 28th round of peace talks between Colombia’s government and the country’s largest rebel group, the FARC, recommenced in Havana, Cuba on Monday.
In the 28th round of the peace talks, the two negotiating teams will resume discussing victims reparations of the 50-year armed conflict. Meanwhile a sub-committee has been in the process of discussing a bilateral ceasefire and possible demobilization on the part of the FARC.
MORE: Colombia announces 10 member sub-committee to discuss bilateral ceasefire with FARC
Between September 9 and 11 a second group of victims will travel to Havana and voice their opinions in front of the FARC and the government, according to local radio station W Radio.
The peace process is “well advanced” President Juan Manuel Santos said Sunday, according to the news agency EFE.
Peace “will be a long way, no doubt, but we started to walk with firm feet and, in fact, it is going well under way,” the president said in Bogota where he participated in the Walk of Solidarity for Colombia.
Earlier Monday, Ivan Marquez, a member of the FARC’s peace delegation, stated through Twitter that the government is creating false expectations.
Iván Márquez this morning in #Havana: “Government is creating false expectations” pic.twitter.com/HdGbN91a5z
— FARC-EP in English (@FARC_EPeace) September 1, 2014
Peace talks so far
The ongoing peace talks began initial discussions over reparations for victims on August 12, and four days later the first 12 of 60 victims were heard at the negotiating table.
MORE: Colombia conflict victims face victimizers at FARC peace talks in Cuba
The meetings between victims and victimizers have not been without controversy. Some Colombians feel that the victims selection made by the UN and the National University is not representative of the 6.5 million victims of the armed conflict, according to W Radio.
Peace talks between the FARC and the Colombian government have been ongoing since November 2012. So far, both parties have come to agreements on the topics of agrarian land reform, political participation, and illicit drugs and crops.
SOURCES
- Negociadores colombianos viajan para los diálogos de una paz cada vez más cercana (EFE)
- Diálogos de paz entre Gobierno y Farc se reinician este lunes (W Radio)
- Iván Márquez this morning in #Havana: “Government is creating false expectations” (FARC-EP’s twitter)
