Former Colombian General calling on FARC to disarm now

(Vatican Radio) A key member of the Colombian government's peace negotiations team is demanding that  the main guerilla army must disarm now. Former General Jorge Enrique Mora, who was head of the Colombian Army in the presidency of Alvaro Uribe, has gone on to the political offensive as the peace talks, which are already more than a year and a half old and still not completed, resume. Mora stresses that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, better known as the FARC, must disarm in order to integrate into society and democracy. He also stresses it was the FARC and not the Colombian government, which declared war in 1964.

In the more than 18 months of talks in Cuba's Capitol, Havana, land reform, political participation, and combating illegal drugs have been discussed and agreed. Compensation for victims of the five decades seismic upheaval, disarmament and ratification of a final overall agreement, probably by a nationwide referendum, have yet to be finalized.

The second round runoff of the Presidential Election is also looming, and generating uncertainty. Oscar Ivan Zuluaga, who's leading President Juan Manuel Santos, has been stressing a hard line about the talks and the FARC. He says some of its leaders will indeed have to be put on trial for atrocities.

 

Listen to the report by James Blears: