10 Nations to Take Part in Colombia Talks
The government and leftist rebels Friday designated 10 mostly European and Latin American countries as support nations for peace talks to end Colombia’s four-decade conflict.
Forming the “facilitating commission” are Canada, Cuba, Spain, France, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Venezuela, the government and the rebels said in a statement.
The decision was agreed to Thursday in meetings between representatives of the Colombian government, leftist rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and envoys from 26 countries, the United Nations and the European Union.
The United States refused to send an envoy to the one-day meeting in the guerrilla-held town of Los Pozos because the FARC rebels were attending.
President Andres Pastrana’s government and the FARC are inviting a greater foreign role to shore up shaky 2-year-old negotiations. Similar international support groups helped forge peace in Central America in the 1990s.
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