Colombia’s government announced that peace talks with the country’s largest guerrilla organization FARC were resuming despite the insurgents killed 13 soldiers Saturday in an ambush. The chief government negotiator said both sides would be back at the table on Monday morning in Havana where the negotiations are taking place.
Secretary of State John Kerry promised strong US backing for peace talks aimed at ending Colombia's half century of conflict, calling the country a success story in a world where many states have failed or are failing.
Colombia's FARC rebel leaders negotiating peace with the government must return to the jungle and end their days on the battlefield or in prison if talks under way in Cuba collapse, warned President Juan Manuel Santos.
Free trade agreements, FTA, signed by the European Union with Colombia, and with Central American countries Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama became effective August first as part of the EU strategy to eliminate tariffs on trade with Central American and the Andean region.
The Colombian economy is the third fastest growing in Latinamerica with a stable performance in 2012 of 4%; an estimated 4.5% this year and 4.7% in 2014, said President Juan Manuel Santos on making a balance of his three years in office.
Colombian government and Marxist-inspired-drugs-funded FARC rebels resumed peace negotiations in Havana on Sunday after a recess of more than two weeks, during which 19 soldiers and a number of rebels were killed and rural protests left four farmers dead and several police injured.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Colombian counterpart Juan Manuel Santos on Monday agreed to turn the page on a diplomatic dispute triggered when Santos met with Venezuela's main opposition leader in May.
Colombia’s president has ordered the military to mount a strong offensive against the country’s biggest rebel movement, FARC, after guerrillas killed 19 soldiers this weekend in two regions. President Juan Manuel Santos said Sunday the army will go after the rebels even though the government has been in peace talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia since last year.
The Argentine Foreign Ministry confirmed that President Cristina Fernández will for the second consecutive year not attend the AMIA Jewish community association’s memorial to commemorate the anniversary of the terrorist attack on its headquarters, which killed 85 and injured more than 300 in 1994.
President Juan Manuel Santos wants his Uruguayan peer Jose Mujica “much closer” to the Colombian peace process which is currently taking place in Cuba and has invited him to the country, said Foreign minister Maria Angela Holguin during a visit to Montevideo.