Colombia: Santos, FARC Discuss Peace and Imprisoned FARC Member

Representatives of Colombia's Alternative Revolutionary Forces of the Commons (FARC) party held a meeting with President Juan Manuel Santos where it was agreed that mechanisms established in the final peace agreement to consolidate peace would be respected.

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According to Londoño, the president agreed to respect the human rights of Jesus Santrich, the FARC member who was recently accused of supposed links to narcotrafficking.

“President Juan Manuel Santos and his government committed to offer the guarantees of due process to the case of Jesus Santrich and respect the proceedings and mechanisms agreed upon in the final (peace) agreement,” FARC leader Rodrigo “Timochenko” Londoño tweeted.

The leaders spoke about accelerating “the process to implement the agreement and create expedited mechanisms for the allocation and coordination of human, technical and financial resources.”

“The FARC party is committed to the country, we have complied and will continue complying. The project for a New Colombia is the goal of all and the greatest goal of each individual. Our final goal is Peace with Social Justice,” Londoño said.

President Santos spoke about the meeting in the following press briefing, and said that whoever commits a crime following the peace agreement will be judged according to the new laws.

With respect to the case of Jesus Santrich, Santos said that the Special Court of Peace (JEP) must verify if the actions he is accused of were done after the signing of the peace agreement or not, and said that his rights should be respected and he should be afforded the full due process.

The FARC, however, has condemned the imprisonment of Santrich, saying his accusation is “part of a plan orchestrated by the U.S. government with the assistance of the Colombian Prosecutor's Office … with the purpose of decapitating the political direction of our Party and burying the wish for peace of the Colombian people.”

“We give Jesus Santrich all of our solidarity,” the FARC statement said. “We know his will of steel.”

“Santrich cannot be a trophy to be delivered to (U.S. President) Trump during his visit to Colombia.”