After statements by guerrilla group FARC, wherein its leader said to be “hopeful” for a political solution to Colombia’s conflict between state and guerrillas and the organization called for a “civilized” end to the conflict, President Juan Manuel Santos said Saturday “the country doesn’t believe a word of the insurgent group.”
The Colombian President made his brief statement on Twitter, where he wrote “the country doesn’t believe a word of the FARC anymore. Many times they have deceived us.”
Santos’ remark followed a publication in Spanish newspaper El Publico in which the FARC’s supreme leader “Alfonso Cano” said to be “hopeful” for a political solution, while criticizing Santos for “imposing a law that closes the doors to dialogue.”
Less than two weeks ago, the FARC sent out a communique, calling for a “civilized” end to the conflict, adding that the rebels “have never renounced the [idea of a] political solution to the social and armed conflict that the Colombian oligarchy continues to deepen in each government cycle.”
Several of Colombia’s rebel groups of which the Marxist FARC is the biggest have been fighting the Colombian state since 1964. During the two administrations of former President Alvaro Uribe, the guerrillas were pushed away from the city’s highways and economically important areas and have repeatedly called for a political solution to the conflict. Both the Uribe and Santos administration have rejected this, demanding the guerrillas first end acts of terrorism.
