Colombians went to the polls on Sunday to elect a new Congress, in a vote seen as a referendum on peace talks with the FARC guerrillas and an anticipation for May's presidential election.
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague was received on Sunday in Cartagena by Colombian Foreign minister María Angeles Holguín and on Monday is scheduled to meet with Juan Manuel Santos at the Palacio Nariño, seat of the Executive in Bogotá. Mr. Hague on Monday evening will be flying to Brazil.
The Colombian government and FARC guerrilla negotiators said that they had made progress toward an agreement on combating illegal drug trafficking, a sign that peace talks were making headway before elections.
The UK should abandon its current drugs policy because the war on drugs is not being won, Nick Clegg has said. Speaking on a visit to Colombia, the deputy prime minister said different approaches were needed although he did not back full legalization. He also praised President Juan Manuel Santos commitment to the peace process with FARC and welcomed the human rights' policy.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced he would seek a second term in office next May, a widely expected decision that could offer him another four years to pursue a peace process he initiated with Marxist FARC rebels.I want a Colombia that is at peace and prosperous for all, Santos said in an address to the nation.
Colombia's government and Marxist FARC rebels reached a fundamental agreement on the guerrillas' future in politics, one of the thorniest issues addressed in peace talks in Cuba, according to a joint statement.
Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's political movement chose economist Oscar Ivan Zuluaga on Saturday as its candidate for presidential elections in May, a vote which represents Uribe's tough stance against leftist guerrillas.
The Colombian government and left-wing FARC rebels ended a 15th round of peace negotiations on Sunday trading accusations over responsibility for the slow pace of the talks and for the first time failing to issue a joint statement on their progress.
President Juan Manuel Santos was grateful and ‘accepted with prudence’ his Uruguayan peer Jose Mujica offer to host a peace-talks process in Montevideo with the other big guerrilla movement in Colombia, the ELN, National Liberation Army
Colombia’s Marxist rebel organization, FARC reiterated on Wednesday its call to the Colombian government to establish a truth commission to deal with the history of the internal conflict in the country that goes back to 1964.