FARC accused the president of the National Farmers Federation of being an ally of paramilitaries as the agricultural forum concluded on Tursday, reported local media.
The guerrilla group says that [Fedegan] President Jose Felix Lafaurie, who refused to attend the forum in Bogota, had links with Salvatore Mancuso, a former AUC leader now being held in the US.
FARC lead negotiator Ivan Marquez read out a statement from Mancuso in which it states. “Lafaurie asked me to support the choice of candidate for Prosecutor General, Mario Iguaran.”
Marquez also accused Lafaurie of trying to sabotage the forum adding, “this is the same allied paramilitaries who never tired of shooting against the forum.”
Mancuso was extradited to the US on drug trafficking charges and was also alleged to have received donations from drug traffickers and land owners as his organization fought against guerrilla groups, mainly FARC and ELN.
Lafaurie refused to join the forum aimed at solving land and production issues in Colombia’s farmland because he felt it would have been a “useless” exercise and would unearth more problems than it would solve.
The forum “is useless because there are two opposing positions: the FARC, who defend the smallholding, and us, who believe we should produce for globalization,” said Lafaurie.
However the FARC remain adamant that the forum, which received more than 400 proposals to settle the land issues in Colombia was a “resounding success.”
Following the completion of the forum the Colombian government and FARC will continue their month-long dialogue in Havana, Cuba, in the next phase of the peace negotiations which aims to bring an end to a 48-year armed conflict.
