BOGOTA, (Reuters) – Colombia’s Marxist FARC rebels suspended a unilateral ceasefire after government troops killed 26 of its fighters, the guerrilla group said yesterday, a move that will likely ratchet up tension at peace talks to end five decades of war.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, said it lifted the ceasefire because of the attack, one of the deadliest confrontations since the two sides began negotiations in Cuba at the end of 2012.
President Juan Manuel Santos said his armed forces are ready for the renewed offensive.
The insurgent group slammed Santos for “incoherence” in seeking peace while his military continued attacks against FARC encampments. The rebel ceasefire had been in place since late December.
“The suspension of the unilateral ceasefire was not in our sights … but the incoherence of Santos’ government has achieved it,” the FARC said in an statement on its website.
“Dialogue will continue,” rebel negotiator and member of the group’s seven-member secretariat, Pablo Catatumbo, told Reuters in Havana. “There is a tense atmosphere that has tarnished the talks these days.”
The FARC statement repeated the group’s demand that the government also declare a ceasefire “for the health” of the process and to prevent further casualties, but Santos has refused to halt offensives until peace is signed.
