By Richard McColl
BOGOTA, Colombia
The FARC reiterated its desire for a lasting peace agreement with the Colombian government on Tuesday as a new poll shows the public losing faith that an deal will be reached.
“We don’t want to give space to the voices that predict the failure of the talks, or to the disproportional words of those who, holding the sacred duty of building peace in their hands, fail when there are difficult situations, insinuating ultimatum and threaten to abandon the search for reconciliation,” said Ivan Marquez, a spokesperson for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in a communiqué on Tuesday from Havana.
The ongoing peace dialogues that began in Cuba in November 2012 have been severely scrutincized in recent weeks as the conflict has escalated since the FARC suspended its self-imposed unilateral cease-fire and the Colombian government recommenced bombing raids in May. The talks remain stagnated on the thorny issue of justice and victims.
A poll released Tuesday shows 75 percent of Colombians do not believe a peace deal will be signed between the government and the FARC. Additionally, 80 percent of those surveyed did not believe the FARC has “legitimate intentions” for the peace dialogues.
The survey comes just two days after chief government negotiator Humberto de la Calle told El Tiempo newspaper that there was a possibility that the government’s team could walk away from the negotiating table.
In an impassioned plea, representatives of the guarantor nations for the talks, Chile and Norway, also urged both sides to agree to a bilateral cease-fire – a move the government has staunchly opposed.
“We are making an urgent call to both sides to urgently scale back the armed conflict. We beg both sides to restrict all actions and activities which cause victims and suffering in Colombia and to focus on the implementation of measures to construct confidence,” they said in a joint statement.
Despite the negativity surrounding the talks, the two sides have reached partial agreements on political participation, agrarian reform and illicit drugs.
And beginning Thursday, a program designed to be jointly executed by the FARC and the Colombian army will attempt to clear landmines from the most affected areas of the country.
“Regarding all this we must keep persevering and calm. It must be said clearly: No one can hide the fact that we have three partial agreements, we move into the drafting of a new agreement on victims, that the decontamination of the territory of explosive devices is underway, and that discussions on the technical sub commission are moving on as well,” said Marquez.
