Colombia and FARC Dissidents To Begin Peace Negotiations
Negotiators from the Colombian government and the FARC dissidents, Venezuela, June 4, 2024. Photo: X/ @BrunoRguezP
June 5, 2024 Hour: 3:09 pm
Their agenda will include issues such as the de-escalation of the conflict and the construction of peace territories.
On Tuesday, the Colombian government and the Second Marquetalia, the dissident faction of the FARC led by Ivan Marquez, announced that they will begin the first cycle of peace negotiations in Caracas.
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“The first cycle of negotiations will be held from June 25 to 29 to agree on the specific topics of the negotiation protocols and themes. The negotiation cycle will last one week, extendable by mutual agreement, with intervals not exceeding 30 working days,” the parties stated in an agreement.
The document is signed by Colombia’s Peace Commissioner, Otty Patiño, and by Ivan Marquez, who was the chief negotiator in the dialogues between the Colombian State and the former FARC guerrilla, which led to the signing of the 2016 peace agreement.
The parties agreed that the dialogue agenda will include the de-escalation of the conflict, the construction of peace territories, the role of victims as transformative social subjects, conditions for peaceful coexistence, and the implementation and verification procedures.
The Government and the Second Marquetalia will be guided by the ‘Agreement Made, Agreement Fulfilled’ principle, which includes the design, implementation, and verification of compliance.
The meeting where the start of the peace negotiations was agreed upon took place on Monday and Tuesday in Venezuela. Besides Patiño and Marquez, it included the heads of the negotiating delegations of the Colombian government, Armando Novoa, and the Second Marquetalia, alias ‘Walter Mendoza.’
Representatives from the governments of Cuba, Norway, and Venezuela, as well as the United Nations and the Colombian Episcopal Conference, also attended.
In August 2019, Ivan Marquez, who was also the FARC’s second-in-command, announced that he was taking up arms again at the head of a dissident group called ‘Second Marquetalia,’ referring to the birthplace of the guerrilla more than half a century ago.
At the beginning of February, the Colombian government and the Second Marquetalia announced the start of a peace process, which will be the third undertaken by the administration of President Gustavo Petro, following those initiated with the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Central General Staff (EMC), the main dissident group of the FARC.
Source: EFE
teleSUR/ JF
