After in excess of a couple of years of peace talks, the conclusion line have also been getting closer.
Within the last few month or two, the rebels had declared a unilateral cease-fire, pledging to quit undertaking attacks, and had promised to stop recruiting child fighters. The 2 sides had even agreed to come together to uncover and destroy the 1000s of land mines littering Colombia after five decades of war.
But suddenly, that progress a break down major setback when no less than 10 soldiers were killed late Tuesday night in the government said was an attack from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
The clash took place in a hamlet in western Colombia called La Esperanza, or Hope.
President Juan Manuel Santos referred to it as a “deliberate attack” by the FARC and said the military could resume bombing guerrilla encampments, lifting a ban he imposed in March for the health of the peace talks and extended just the other day.
“This implies an obvious break from the unilateral cease-fire pledge,” Mr. Santos said in a very televised press conference. “This can be a reprehensible action that won’t remain unpunished and demands decisive measures, and this will have consequences for those involved.”
He ordered the military to hunt the guerrillas who had carried out the attack, that your army caused by a FARC bloc that may be regarded as being among the most aggressive.
But Mr. Santos didn’t suspend the peace talks.
“Acts of the nature and seriousness demonstrate all over again the need to accelerate the negotiations to put an end to the present conflict,” he explained, backed by military officers and also other officials.
Earlier on Wednesday, a military official declared the soldiers were attacked with grenades, gunfire and explosive devices. He was quoted saying one FARC fighter was killed. It was the primary large-scale skirmish because FARC declared a unilateral cease-fire in December.
“More than anything, this has an impact on public opinion — lots of people don’t understand how you can keep negotiating — along with a major political impact,” said Ariel Avila from the Peace and Reconciliation Foundation.
In Havana, the location where the peace talks are already going on, Félix Antonio Muñoz, a FARC negotiator who uses the pseudonym Pastor Alape, taken care of immediately news on the attack by blaming the government for continuing its military actions.
“It would appear that the cause would be the incoherence by the us government, being ordering military operations against a guerilla force which includes declared a truce,” he said.
When Mr. Santos surprised Colombians in 2012 by announcing that they had opted for start peace talks with the FARC, the chances against success seemed steep. In recent times, other rounds of talks had failed, leaving a legacy of disappointment and cynicism.
Playing with recent months, each sides have taken several promising steps. The FARC declared a cease-fire so it said would last indefinitely. The costa rica government, while refusing to participate the cease-fire, asserted the FARC had largely stuck to its promise to not carry out attacks.
“The end on the longest-running conflict in the Americas is at reach,” Sergio Jaramillo, one of many Colombian government’s lead negotiators inside the talks, said a week ago, sounding a note of both optimism and caution. “But we can’t claim victory or success until we’re done, as this is still really very tough.”
In February, the FARC said it would stop recruiting fighters younger than 17. Then, in March, each sides announced the initiative to function together to remove land mines. Soon afterward, Mr. Santos ordered a one-month halt towards the aerial bombing of FARC encampments. Yesterday, he extended the respite for an additional month.
Since peace talks began, there have been other clashes with all the FARC that led to a lot of casualties. In July 2013, the military reported that 15 soldiers died if your rebels attacked an oil pipeline.
Last November, the FARC captured an army general, Rubén Darío Alzate, which forced Mr. Santos to suspend the talks until he was already released.
“The negotiations is sure to continue, nonetheless it won’t function as same,” said Jorge Restrepo, the director on the Conflict Analysis Resource Center, an investigation institution.
He was quoted saying that Mr. Santos “will have to complete a credible demonstration of military power up against the FARC, which will imprint an alternative dynamic in the negotiations.”
The most recent attack comes for a critical time, threatening several of the recent momentum. The newspaper El Tiempo posted an editorial on its website Wednesday morning describing your situation as a crisis.
It questioned if the FARC had orchestrated the attack to try and force the costa rica government to receive an entire truce, in which each party accept stop fighting while talks continue, a longtime goal from the rebels. Still, the editorial said, talks should continue. New Orleans girls service
Opponents in the peace process moved quickly to condemn the attack and criticize Mr. Santos for continuing to barter. New Orleans girl directory
“The FARC commits murder along with the answer in the government is, we’re going to accelerate the negotiations,” said former President Álvaro Uribe, a fervent opponent on the peace process, speaking a tv personality. “What that does is cause more problems for america.”