By Richard McColl
BOGOTA, Colombia
A guerrilla group announced Friday the suspension of a unilateral cease-fire with the government after an air force bombing raid killed nearly 30 militants in southwestern Colombia.
“We deplore the joint attack of the air force, the army and the police carried out at dawn on Thursday against a camp of the 29 Front of the FARC in Guapi (Cauca), during which, according to official sources, 26 guerrilla combatants were killed,” the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) said in a statement released Friday.
The FARC declared a unilateral cease-fire in late December. In response, President Juan Manuel Santos ordered a suspension of all bombing raids against the guerrillas and their installations.
But the ban on bombing was lifted April 15 following a FARC attack in the town of Buenos Aires in Cauca that killed 11 soldiers and injured 20 others.
“This is a legitimate action by the state in defence and for the protection of the Colombian people,” Santos said Friday. “It is time to accelerate the peace dialogues. How many more deaths must we suffer to understand that the time for peace has arrived.”
Ongoing peace talks in Havana between the two sides since November 2012 have come under criticism in recent months as the guerrilla group has been accused of not keeping its word and violating its own cease-fire.
“I think that the unilateral cease-fire declared by the FARC was in practice a farce and that they were not committed to it as they repeatedly continued their violence against Colombians time and again over recent months,” said Attorney General Alejandro Ordóñez Maldonado, a staunch critic of the talks.
The FARC once again urged Santos to consider a bilateral cease-fire – a move the government opposes out of fear the guerrillas will use the opportunity to re-arm and train combatants as was done during failed peace talks in San Vicente de Caguan between 1999 and 2002.
“Although Santos announces that he will keep the offensive, we insist on the need to agree, as soon as possible, to the health of the peace process and to prevent further victimization, on a bilateral cease-fire, insistently requested by national majorities,” the FARC said in its statement.
A 37th round of peace talks began Thursday in Cuba with government negotiators deploring the continued use of landmines by the guerrillas that killed a 7-year-old school girl earlier this week. Agreements have been reached on the issues of agrarian reform, political participation and illicit drugs.
