Colombian Rebel Chief OKs Meeting With President
Rebel leader Manuel “Sure Shot” Marulanda has agreed to Colombian President Andres Pastrana’s demand for face-to-face talks in a guerrilla enclave to revive stalled peace talks, a rebel commander said Friday.
Alfonso Cano, chief ideologue of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, told reporters that Marulanda, who formed the FARC in the mid-1960s, had agreed to meet Thursday with Pastrana.
“I agree . . . that we need to meet again. Colombia and the international community are clamoring for it,” Cano said, reading a letter from Marulanda to Pastrana.
Pastrana raised the stakes of the slow-moving two-year peace process Wednesday when he gave Marulanda, 69, until Sunday to meet him personally to salvage talks that broke off in November.
Pastrana, determined to end the South American nation’s 4-decade-old civil war, created a haven for the rebels in November 1998 to get peace talks moving.
But Pastrana said he would guarantee rebel control of the region only until Sunday unless Marulanda agreed to meet with him.
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