Leftist FARC guerrillas said President Juan Manuel Santos had “deflated” peace prospects in Colombia by antagonizing Venezuela, warning Saturday that talks to end the conflict were now in limbo.
The warning by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia came amid a diplomatic flap over a meeting Santos had in Bogota last month with Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles that infuriated the leftist government in Caracas.
“Santos knew that his provocation against the legitimate government of Venezuela would explode like a bomb at the negotiating table in Havana,” the FARC said in a statement posted on its website.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro recalled his representative to the six-month-old peace talks between Colombia’s government and the FARC in Havana, and said it was reviewing its relations with Bogota.
Capriles, who ran against Maduro in snap presidential elections April 14 to replace the late Hugo Chavez, is challenging Maduro’s narrow 1.5 percent victory.
His May 28 meeting with Santos at the presidential palace in Bogota, seen as an endorsement in Caracas, came as the Colombian peace talks appeared to be gathering steam.
The two sides had just reached agreement on land reform, one of five issues on the agenda for the talks, the first in a decade aimed at ending the FARC’s nearly 50-year-old insurgency.
“Santos’s attitude deflated the optimism, the atmosphere favorable to peace that had been built through a lot of effort in Havana,” the FARC said. “The matter is summed up by the fact that were it not for Venezuela, the peace talks would not have been held in the Cuban capital.”
The statement went on to say that the meetings, which have been underway since November, were now “in limbo” because the FARC “regards the Venezuelans as the principal factor generating confidence, and consequently are fundamental architects of the peace process.”
The talks are currently in recess but are scheduled to resume on Tuesday with a focus on how the guerrillas would participate in politics under a deal.
Santos told an economic forum in London on Friday that despite the difficulties, he was “quite confident” a peace agreement would be reached by the end of the year.
“The guerrillas don’t have an alternative. Honestly, it’s now or never,” Santos said.
FARC warns Colombia peace 'deflated' by Venezuela spat
