U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Colombia’s rebel group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, on Monday in Havana, Cuba. Kerry’s meeting with the FARC is the first time a U.S. Secretary of State has met with a group that is listed on Washington’s list of foreign terrorist organizations.
The top leader of Colombia’s FARC, dubbed “Timochenko”, called the meeting with the Secretary of State “historic” in a video released by the rebel group on Tuesday. He also said that “[It was] something unprecedented and unthinkable. We received support from him in person for the peace process in Colombia, which fills us with optimism and makes us more certain that we’re moving toward peace.”
High ranking members of the guerilla group were also present at the meeting on Tuesday. Kerry and the FARC spoke on continuing the changes towards peace in Colombia in reference to Plan Colombia, Colombia’s U.S.-backed anti-drug plan that came about at the end of the 1990s. Later on the plan was expanded to combat the guerrilla and drug trafficking tactics of the leftist rebels.
Regardless of the progress towards peace mentioned in the conversations, Kerry’s meeting with the FARC sparked debate amongst those against the particular peace process between the rebel group and Colombian government. The meeting was met with disapproval from the previous Colombian president, Alvaro Uribe, who tweeted that “many Colombians feel offended” with the U.S. Secretary of State’s meeting with “the world’s biggest cocaine cartel, terrorist group.”
The conflict between the FARC and the Colombian government has been a half-century war. And while the two sides have reached agreements on numerous important topics the signing for a peace set to March 23rd was pushed back earlier this month because the two sides were disagreeing on how the rebel group would disarm and demobilize.
Recent Comments