Current:Home > InvestColombia announces cease-fire with a group that split off from the FARC rebels-InfoLens
Colombia announces cease-fire with a group that split off from the FARC rebels
View Date:2024-12-23 11:35:22
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia’s government and one of the nation’s last remaining rebel groups announced Tuesday that they will start peace talks next month, and enter a 10-month cease-fire that is expected to decrease violence against civilians.
The agreement between the Colombian government and the rebel group known as FARC-EMC comes as President Gustavo Petro tries to bolster his plans to pacify rural areas of Colombia by negotiating simultaneously with all of the nation’s remaining rebel factions, under his “total peace” strategy.
In August the Petro administration brokered a six-month cease=fire with the National Liberation Army, the nation’s largest remaining rebel group, and also set up a committee that will decide how community groups will participate in peace talks with that group.
The FARC-EMC are a splinter group of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. The splinter group refused to join a 2016 peace deal between the main FARC group and the government, in which more than 12,000 fighters laid down their guns.
The group is believed to have around 3,000 fighters and has recently been active in southwest Colombia, as well as in the provinces of Arauca and North Santander, on the nation’s eastern border with Venezuela.
Talks between the government and FARC-EMC will begin on Oct. 8 in Tibu, a municipality on Colombia’s eastern border that has long been affected by fighting between the government, drug cartels, and rebel groups.
FARC-EMC negotiators said Tuesday that their group will not interfere in municipal elections that will be held across the country at the end of October, and invited citizens in areas under the group’s influence to participate “freely” in the vote.
The government and the rebel group also issued a joint statement which said that the peace talks will seek to “dignify” the living conditions of Colombians who have “ been victims social inequalities and armed confrontation.”
This will be the second cease-fire between the government and the FARC-EMC in less than a year. A previous ceasefire began in December of last year, but broke down in May after the rebel group executed four indigenous teenagers who had escaped from one of the group’s camps in southern Colombia, after they were forcibly recruited.
veryGood! (1287)
Related
- Japan to resume V-22 flights after inquiry finds pilot error caused accident
- Pakistani police use tear gas to disperse pre-election rally by supporters of former leader Khan
- Texas attorney general refuses to grant federal agents full access to border park: Your request is hereby denied
- Eileen Gu chooses ‘All of the Above’ when faced with choices involving skiing, Stanford and style
- Elton John Details Strict Diet in His 70s
- How Taiwan beat back disinformation and preserved the integrity of its election
- Why Joel Embiid missed fourth consecutive game at Denver following late scratch
- Iraq and US begin formal talks to end coalition mission formed to fight the Islamic State group
- Lions find way to win, Bears in tough spot: Best (and worst) from NFL Week 10
- Is Amazon a threat to the movie industry? This Hollywood director thinks so.
Ranking
- Mike Tyson concedes the role of villain to young foe in 58-year-old’s fight with Jake Paul
- Finns go to the polls to elect a new president at an unprecedented time for the NATO newcomer
- Maine man dies after rescuing 4-year-old son when both fall through ice at pond
- Mexico confirms some Mayan ruin sites are unreachable because of gang violence and land conflicts
- Jenn Tran's Ex Devin Strader Throws Shade At Her DWTS Partner Sasha Farber Amid Romance Rumors
- Where Sophia Bush Thinks Her One Tree Hill Character Brooke Davis Is Today
- Muslims and Jews in Bosnia observe Holocaust Remembrance Day and call for peace and dialogue
- Mexico confirms some Mayan ruin sites are unreachable because of gang violence and land conflicts
Recommendation
-
Bowl projections: SEC teams joins College Football Playoff field
-
An ancient Egyptian temple in New York inspires a Lebanese American musician
-
Plastic surgery helped murder suspect Kaitlin Armstrong stay on the run
-
An ancient Egyptian temple in New York inspires a Lebanese American musician
-
Mississippi expects only a small growth in state budget
-
A snowboarder spent 15 hours trapped in a ski gondola. She rubbed her hands and feet to keep warm
-
Bangladesh appeals court grants bail to Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus in labor case
-
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen talks inflation and Candy Crush