Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos met with his negotiating team Tuesday to finalize details of the upcoming peace talks in Oslo, Norway.
The government’s negotiators, which is headed by Humberto de la Calle, Sergio Jaramillo, Frank Pearl and Alejandro Eder, met with Santos right before the second phase of negotiations, according to Caracol Radio. The official peace process will begin in the Norwegian capital of Oslo with the country’s largest rebel guerrilla group FARC before later moving to Havana, Cuba.
The president also talked to the president of Brazil, Dilma Rosusseff, briefly on the phone who reassured Santos that Brazil would support Santos and the peace process in what ever way possible. Santos said that the conversation was reassuring and important since Brazil “is an important and credible actor in the region,” newspaper El Espectador reported.
Santos is allegedly confident that a peace settlement can be reached if there is willingness on the part of the FARC guerrillas which will ultimately end the drawn out armed conflict in Colombia. However, he also claimed that the government would be firm in their terms and that the negotiating team would represent the government’s goals, goals which will be examined regularly to determine both parties adherence to terms.
Caracol reported that negotiations would tentatively be in full swing by October 24 and 25 in Havana, Cuba. In Havana both parties will further negotiate a six point “preagreement” signed by both parties. Up to 30 delegates from the government and the FARC will be participating in the negotiating roundtable.
