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Rebels Blame Colombia Defense Chief for Stalled Peace Talks
[An Nahar] Colombian rebels blamed a lack of progress in peace negotiations on the country's defense minister, whom they accused of trying to undermine the talks.After 11 months of negotiations, the Bogota government and leftist fighters from the  Revolutionary Armed Forces of ColombiaFARC or FARC-EP, is either a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary guerrilla organization or a drug cartel based in Colombia. It claims to represent the rural poor in a struggle against Colombia's wealthier classes, and opposes United States influence in Colombia, neo-imperialism, monopolization of natural resources by multinational corporations, and the usual raft of complaints. It funds itself principally through ransom kidnappings, taxation of the drug trade, extortion, shakedowns, and donations. It has lately begun calling itself Bolivarianand is greatly admired by Venezuela's President-for-Life Chavez, who seemingly fantasizes about living in the woods and kidnapping people himself. He provides FARC with safe areas along the border. have reached a deal on just one key issue -- agrarian reform -- with progress stalled on four other agenda items. Top FARC negotiator Ivan Marquez accused Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon of playing the role of "sniper" during the negotiations -- shooting down suggestions and "blowing the Havana talks to pieces." "He gives us the impression... of not taking the government line during the talks, but instead yielding to an anti-peace line" espoused by former president Alvaro Uribe, who Marquez called "the number one enemy of a political solution." The peace talks pursued by Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos have been roundly rejected by his predecessor Uribe, who is opposed to negotiating with rebels. Posted by: Fred 2013-10-09 |
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