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Five dead in Colombia army-rebel fighting

Agence France-PresseMay 24, 2013 13:21

A clash between Colombian army and rebel forces left five combatants dead, the army said in a statement Friday, marking the latest fighting despite ongoing peace talks between the two sides. The battle Thursday in northern Antioquia department left three army soldiers dead and three wounded. Two members of the FARC leftist rebel group died and two more were wounded, the army said in a statement. The Colombian government has been holding peace talks with the FARC since November in Havana.

Rebel attack kills 9 soldiers, Colombian army says

Agencia EFEMay 22, 2013 17:00

Bogota, May 22 (EFE).- The death toll from the attack staged by National Liberation Army, or ELN, guerrillas on soldiers in a rural area outside Chitaga, a city in Colombia's Norte de Santander province, has risen to nine, the army said Wednesday. "The army's 2nd Division command regrets to report that the number of our soldiers murdered in a terrorist attack perpetrated by members of the ELN has risen to nine," the army said in a statement.

Nine soldiers killed in Colombia rebel attack

Agence France-PresseMay 22, 2013 16:15

Nine soldiers were killed and six wounded in an attack the government blamed Wednesday on the ELN, Colombia's second largest leftist guerrilla group. The soldiers were attacked with home-made explosives in north-eastern Colombia near the border with Venezuela, officials said. President Juan Manuel Santos broke the news in a message on Twitter. "Six heroes of our army (died) in an ELN attack in Norte de Santander. Our hearts are with their families." The regional army command later issued a statement raising the death toll to nine.

ELN rebels kill 6 soldiers in fighting in Colombia

Agencia EFEMay 22, 2013 15:49

Bogota, May 22 (EFE).- Six soldiers were killed in an attack staged by National Liberation Army, or ELN, guerrillas in a rural area outside Chitaga, a city in Colombia's Norte de Santander province, President Juan Manuel Santos said Wednesday. "We are saddened by the deaths of these six heroes from our army in the ELN attack in Norte de Santander. Our hearts are with their families," Santos said in a Twitter posting.

Talks resume as Colombia urges rebels to disarm

Agence France-PresseMay 15, 2013 12:45

Talks resumed after a brief hiatus Wednesday in Havana between Colombia and FARC guerrillas, one day after President Juan Manuel Santos said the rebels must disarm in order to reach a peace agreement. The talks, held in the Cuban capital Havana, are the first attempt in a decade to negotiate a truce between the Colombian government and Latin American's oldest insurgency. Three previous attempts failed.

Colombian rebels put conditions on Canadian's release

Agence France-PresseMay 10, 2013 16:37

Guerrillas holding a Canadian engineer hostage demanded Wednesday that the Colombian government revoke mining rights granted to the company he works for. Jernoc Wobert, 47, was kidnapped January 18 in a rural area of northern Colombia by guerrillas of the National Liberation Army, or ELN, the country's second largest leftist rebel group. Two Peruvians and three Colombians kidnapped with Wobert, who was employed by Braeval Mining Corporation, were released a month later.

Army kills 7 FARC rebels in fighting in Colombia

Agencia EFEMay 6, 2013 13:16

Bogota, May 6 (EFE).- Army troops killed seven FARC guerrillas and captured an eighth in fighting in southwestern Colombia over the weekend, a high-level military commander said. The dead guerrillas belonged to the 29th Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, Southwestern Joint Command chief Gen. Leonardo Barrero Gordillo told Efe. The fighting occurred Saturday in Leyva, a village on the border between Cauca and Nariño provinces, Barrero said in a telephone interview.

Clashes kill 7 guerrillas in southwest Colombia

Agence France-PresseMay 5, 2013 17:00

At least seven FARC militants were killed in clashes in a rural area of southwest Colombia, the military said Sunday. The military also seized six rifles, two pistols, explosives, grenades and weapons suppliers after the fighting Saturday in Narino province, near the border with Ecuador, General Leonardo Barrero said. The FARC -- the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- is the country's largest leftist guerrilla group, and the insurgency it has waged since 1964 is the oldest in Latin America.

Colombia sees leniency for rebels if peace deal reached

Agence France-PresseApril 29, 2013 12:16

Colombian guerrilla leaders convicted of war crimes or crimes against humanity could get suspended sentences if government and rebel negotiators reach a peace accord, an official said Monday. The two sides have been negotiating in Havana since late last year to try to end Latin America's last and longest insurgency, one that has ground on for nearly 50 years and claimed an estimated 600,000 lives. Most of the leaders of the leftist rebel group FARC have already been tried and convicted in absentia of a variety of crimes, but none for crimes against humanity or war crimes.

Colombia rebels make new demands at peace talks

Agence France-PresseApril 24, 2013 12:16

The FARC rebel delegation at Colombian peace talks on Wednesday called for ending what it labeled Bogota's neoliberal economic policy as the insurgents made new demands. The leftist guerrillas waging Latin America's longest-running insurgency also proposed tax reform, the drafting of a new constitution and guarantees for farmers and other rural people to be involved in shaping policy. The demands appeared aimed at addressing the social and economic roots of the decades-old conflict, which began in the 1960s as a peasant revolt against wealthy landowners.