The strongest front of the FARC opposition has offered a bilateral ceasefire to Colombia’s elected president, Gustavo Petro, to find a “political solution” to the conflict, according to a letter published this Wednesday (3).
In the document, the guerrillas who were excluded from the 2016 peace deal propose to “get along” with the new government to create “a climate conducive to a bilateral ceasefire agreement”.
The deal would allow for a “political solution to the violence,” according to the rebels.
The July 31 letter was published by various media outlets on Wednesday, along with a video showing about 18 men and women dressed in camouflage and carrying rifles.
On July 15, the outgoing president, Iván Duque, announced that the leader of this organization known as the Southeast Bloc, Iván Mordisco, was killed in an operation.
His successor, a former guerrilla fighter and former senator, who will assume the presidency on Sunday, has expressed interest in reaching an agreement on “complete peace” with all armed groups operating in Colombia.
Petro’s proposal includes opposition from former FARC fighters and new hires who did not accept the 2016 peace deal.
According to the Indepaz research center, the Southeast Bloc, with around 2,000 members, is the largest of the opposition groups operating in Colombia and exists mainly in the Amazon jungle and on the Venezuelan border.
The National Liberation Army (ELN), the last guerrilla recognized in the country after the FARC’s disarmament, expressed its intention to sit down with Petro shortly after his election as Colombia’s first left-wing president.
The new president also proposed a “peaceful disbandment” of other organizations, such as the Gulf Clan, the country’s largest drug cartel, which announced its willingness to coordinate a ceasefire to negotiate disarmament two weeks ago.
source: Noticias
[author_name]
