Members of Colombia’s Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas are to meet US Secretary of State John Kerry in Cuba, a spokeswoman for Colombia’s government peace negotiators said on Sunday, adding a twist to a historic visit to the nation by US President Barack Obama.
The meeting with Kerry yesterday was the first time a US secretary of state met the negotiators from the FARC, who have been talking peace with the Colombian government in Havana for more than three years.
“At around 4pm, the meeting between Kerry and the FARC delegation will take place,” after the Colombian government delegation meet him, the spokeswoman said.
A source at Colombia’s Office of the High Commissioner for Peace said the rebels and Colombian government negotiators would also go to an exhibition game between Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays and Cuba’s national team today.
That game is to be attended by Obama, who on Sunday became the first sitting US president to visit Cuba in nearly 90 years.
However, FARC negotiator Pastor Alape said he was not aware of an invitation to attend the baseball game, adding that before meeting with Kerry, the rebels would meet the US special envoy for Colombian peace talks, Bernard Aronson, to agree on an agenda.
The US sees the Colombian peace talks hosted in Havana as an example of how restoring normal relations with Cuba can help its wider goals in Latin America.
Latin America’s longest war has killed more than 220,000 people and displaced millions of others since 1964. The government and rebels are attempting to reach a deal that would be placed before Colombian voters for approval, with a UN mission supervising rebel disarmament.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC leader Rodrigo Londono, better known by the nom de guerre Timochenko, had set a self-imposed deadline, tomorrow, to reach a comprehensive pact, but have since conceded that goal might not be reached.
Washington designated the FARC as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997 and many of its leaders have been indicted in the US on charges of cocaine trafficking.
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