Colombia now open to bilateral ceasefire with FARC

[Judi Lynn]

Colombia now open to bilateral ceasefire with FARC
By Staff Writers, teleSUR
Sunday, Jul 5, 2015

In a departure from its previous position, the government of Colombia has expressed its readiness to declare a bilateral ceasefire with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

"We are ready to accept a cease-fire, even before the signing of an agreement," said the government's chief negotiator at the peace talks in Havana, Humberto de la Calle.

The top official said the government of President Juan Manuel Santos that it was willing to explore a bilateral cease-fire with the FARC "if it is serious, bilateral, definitive and verifiable," he said.

The Colombian government had previously expressed its opposition to a bilateral cease-fire before the signing of a peace accord.

More:
http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_70883.shtml

[Peace Patriot]

1. This is likely related to Santos' firing of top military brass,

which you posted here:

Santos replaces almost entire command of Colombia’s armed forces
http://www.democraticunderground.com/110842067

It's interesting that you boldfaced the part of that article which says that Santos retained one of them, Armed Forces commander General Juan Pablo Rodriguez who is implicated in the killing of civilians. I think that these firings had less to do with the human rights report and much more to do with the alleged ambush by the FARC, which threatened to end the peace talks. There were things about that alleged ambush that didn't add up, pointing to lying by military officials and covering something up. I think it's likely that the ambush wasn't an ambush, but that military officers deliberately put their men in danger and violated safety protocols IN ORDER TO CREATE AN INCIDENT that would stop the peace talks. I also think it's likely that the commanders that Santos fired were conspiring to sabotage the peace talks--a general treasonous situation of which the so-called ambush was one incident.

Santos retained Rodriguez because he did not go along with sabotaging the peace talks? That's my guess.

Santos is going for a mutual ceasefire. Some in the military didn't want this. Their whole identity is tied up in killing Colombians, including leftist fighters but not, by any means, limited to them--including also thousands of non-combatants, peasant farmers, teachers, community organizers, the poor, the disenfranchised, the voiceless, and including the brutal displacement of millions of Colombia's poor. They've been doing this--killing their fellow and sister Colombians--for some 70 years. It's their identity and their gravy train.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Your aim is true.

That's their whole way of life in the Colombian military, by now. As you say, it's their identity.

They have grown to require the heavy cash infusion coming in yearly from the U.S. taxpayers. Uribe and his candidate for the Presidency in the last campaign were bugging the Peace Conference, hoping to sabotage the struggle toward peace.

Your comments about creating incidents ring so true, as well, especially when it's so easy to remember a car bomb was rigged near the swearing in ceremony for Uribe's second inauguration, set by Colombian military officers, who acknowledged it in their confessions, well after the official claim had been the FARC had done it, of course.

False positives only helped cement the image that FARCs, etc., were plentiful, and threatening, helping to hold the illusion in place that Colombia had no choice but to keep fighting forever until everyone left was a servile, greedy, tooth-sucking sleazoid, like Uribe's followers.

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