BOGOTA, Colombia
President Juan Manuel Santos on Friday signaled a desire to expedite peace talks with the FARC following a guerrilla attack earlier this week that killed 11 soldiers and wounded 20 others.
“These grave events have illustrated the need to accelerate the negotiations so we can bring this conflict to an end. This is the war which we have to finish,” Santos said via Twitter.
The attack, which has been widely condemned at home and abroad, led European Union policy chief Federica Mogherini to declare it a significant “obstacle to reconciliation.”
Facing increased domestic criticism for his handling of the situation, Santos on Wednesday lifted the suspension of bombing attacks against Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
But while speaking at a press conference Thursday night, he reiterated his support for peace dialogues with the guerrilla group that have been ongoing since November 2012 and said he still believed a peaceful deal could be signed later this year.
Wednesday’s attack in the southwestern department of Cauca was the militants’ most deadly incursion on the military since FARC declared a unilateral and indefinite cease-fire of hostilities last December.
From Havana, a guerrilla spokesperson known as Pablo Catatumbo called on Santos to “keep a cool head” and work toward an eventual bilateral cease-fire.
Former president and now Sen. Alvaro Uribe, a staunch critic of the peace dialogues, said now is the time to “take a pause to reorganize the process.”
Despite public outrage about the attack, which has been seen as the FARC wilful violation of own cease-fire, Colombian Vice President German Vargas Lleras, also came out in favour of accelerated peace talks.
“It is now time to set a schedule, with definitive time limits, for the talks. There is no reason for these dialogues to continue indefinitely,” he said.
