BOGOTA, Colombia
The FARC will soon begin a month-long self-imposed unilateral cease-fire, the group said Wednesday.
The announcement was made from Havana, where the group is currently holding peace talks with the Colombian government.
“In the spirit of the call made by the guarantors of the process, Cuba and Norway, and the accompanying countries, Venezuela and Chile, we announce our willingness to order a unilateral cease-fire from July 20, for one month,” said chief negotiator for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) Ivan Marquez. “With this, we seek to create favorable conditions to advance with our counterpart in the implementation of a bilateral and definitive cease-fire.”
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos reacted positively to the militants’ announcement of a sixth unilateral cease-fire since talks began in November 2012.
“We value this gesture of a unilateral cease-fire by the FARC but more is needed, above all, the concrete commitment to accelerate the negotiations,” Santos said via Twitter.
The FARC had previously called a unilateral cease-fire last December. That ended May 22 when 26 guerrillas were killed in a military bombing raid in a response to the deaths of 11 soldiers at the hands of the FARC in April.
Since the suspension of the cease-fire and the recommencement of bombing raids, the month of June has been the most violent since peace talks began, according to the Bogota-based Conflict Analysis Resource Center (CERAC),
As a poll was released Tuesday that showed 75 percent of Colombians do not believe in the government’s ability to reach a negotiated peace with the militants, the guarantor nations to the peace dialogues made an emotional plea for an “urgent descaling” of the conflict which in recent weeks has resulted in an increase in deaths on both sides, significant damage to infrastructure and has had disastrous effects on the environment.
While the FARC continues to push for a bilateral cease-fire, the Colombian government remains opposed to the idea.
The guerrilla group used a similar cease-fire during peace dialogues of San Vicente de Caguan in 1998-2002 to re-arm, recruit and strengthen its forces.
Sen. Alfredo Rangel of the Democratic Center party said the FARC’s latest announcement is nothing more than a “reiteration of the same trap” as before.
“The FARC will use this truce to stockpile explosives and weapons and prepare new terrorist offensives,” he said. The group “needs to concentrate in one area of the country and from there indefinitely suspend the violence and terrorism to be able to continue the dialogues in peace,” he added.
Formed in 1964, the FARC is the largest rebel group in Colombia with an estimated 8,000 combatants in its ranks.
