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Colombian FARC leader Catatumbo joins peace talks in Havana

April 7, 2013 20:37
BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombian rebel leader Pablo Catatumbo has joined the team of FARC negotiators hammering out a peace deal in Havana, a move that could help the Marxist group garner more support from low-ranking guerrillas to end the country's five-decade conflict. Catatumbo, who is sought by the United States for drug trafficking, went to Havana with other members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, to reinforce the negotiating team, the rebel group said in a statement on Sunday.

Security forces kill 4 FARC rebels in Colombia

April 7, 2013 14:46
Bogota, Apr 7 (EFE).- The security forces killed four FARC rebels and captured two others near Colombia's border with Panama, President Juan Manuel Santos said. "This was a very strong blow. Congratulations for the blow you gave them," Santos said during an appearance Saturday in Soacha. Police and army troops staged the joint operation against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, in the Uraba region of Choco, a province in northwestern Colombia.

Military suspends operations in southwest Colombia

April 6, 2013 15:30
The Colombian army has suspended operations in the country's southwest, a military source told AFP on Saturday, in a move reports said was meant to allow FARC leader Pablo Catatumbo to exit the country to attend peace talks in Cuba. "Yes, military operations have been suspended," said one high-ranking military official, without providing details, other than to confirm that the interruption in fighting had been ordered by top government officials.

Controversial Colombian "emerald czar" dies

April 4, 2013 16:45
Bogota, Apr 4 (EFE).- Colombian "emerald czar" Victor Carranza, a mining tycoon who was investigated for alleged ties to right-wing militias and other crimes, died on Thursday, officials at the Fundacion Santa Fe de Bogota hospital told Efe. He was 78. Carranza was hospitalized two weeks ago suffering from cancer of the prostate and lungs.

US lifts sanctions on team tied to Colombian drug cartel

April 3, 2013 13:00
The US Treasury Department on Wednesday said it removed the professional Colombian football team America de Cali from a blacklist of groups owned by people linked to the illegal drug trade. The team, a 13-time national champion that has fallen on hard luck, was blacklisted in June 1999 "because it was under the ownership or control of Cali Cartel leaders Miguel and Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela and other designated individuals," the Treasury Department said.

Colombian rebels deny involvement in drug trade

April 1, 2013 15:46
Bogota, Apr 1 (EFE).- Colombia's FARC rebels blasted authorities on Monday for seeking to implicate the guerrillas in drug trafficking. "We of the FARC are revolutionaries, not drug traffickers," the high command of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia's Western Bloc said in a statement posted on the Internet.

Colombia, rebels pause peace talks for three weeks

March 30, 2013 12:00
The Colombian government and leftist FARC rebels on Saturday suspended peace talks for three weeks, though their technical teams will continue to work together, according to a statement. "After a series of meetings during the days of Holy Week, the delegations of the national government and the FARC agreed to resume talks in the third week of April," said a joint statement emailed to AFP in Havana.

Colombia nabs rebel linked to Uribe inauguration attack

March 23, 2013 18:46
Bogota, Mar 23 (EFE).- Colombian police captured a purported high-ranking member of the FARC leftist guerrilla group's Eastern Bloc who is suspected of participating in a deadly 2002 mortar attack during former President Alvaro Uribe's first inauguration. In a statement, the National Police said Jaime Aguilar Ramirez was detained Friday in the central province of Meta while riding in a luxury SUV.

Colombia, FARC say peace talks make progress, but still disagreements

March 21, 2013 17:45
By Jeff Franks HAVANA (Reuters) - Colombia and the Marxist FARC rebels have made strides toward striking an accord on land reform, but disagreements remain, the two sides said on Thursday at the end of their latest round of peace talks. Former Vice President Humberto de la Calle said he hoped they could settle the issue quickly when they meet again on April 2, but the rebels said in a news conference they were still adding proposals, which now number 90, for the government to consider.

Colombia chides rebels to stick to peace talks agenda

March 21, 2013 17:31
Colombia's government on Thursday rejected calls by the leftist FARC guerrillas to demilitarize rural areas, saying that and other issues were beyond the scope of ongoing peace talks. "The government is not going to start negotiating on new topics," peace talks representative Humberto De la Calle told reporters, as the two sides prepared to take an 11-day break. "I'm referring, for example, to the issue raised by the FARC on 'demilitarizing the rural areas.' This issue is not part of the discussions," said De la Calle as he prepared to return to Bogota.
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