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Colombia, Rebels Restart Suspended Peace Talks


FILE - Brigadier General Ruben Alzate, right, Corporal Jorge Rodriguez, center, and lawyer Gloria Urrego were released by the FARC guerrillas in Medellin, Colombia, Nov. 30, 2014.
FILE - Brigadier General Ruben Alzate, right, Corporal Jorge Rodriguez, center, and lawyer Gloria Urrego were released by the FARC guerrillas in Medellin, Colombia, Nov. 30, 2014.

The Colombian government and leftist FARC guerrillas on Wednesday restarted peace talks that had been suspended over the rebel capture of an army general who has since been released.

"The events of the previous few weeks are behind us," chief government negotiator Humberto de la Calle said in a statement moments before heading into a closed-door session with the rebels.

The two-year-old talks in Cuba seek to end a 50-year-old war that has killed 200,000 people.

President Juan Manuel Santos suspended talks on Nov. 16 after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) seized army general Ruben Dario Alzate, one of five people taken by the guerrillas in two separate incidents.

Santos insisted there would be no more negotiations until all five hostages were freed.

The rebels released two soldiers on Nov. 25 and the other three - Alzate, a soldier and a civilian lawyer - were set free on Nov. 30. Alzate has since resigned from the army.

Santos has said he would like to reach a comprehensive accord by the end of 2015. Any agreement would then be put before Colombian voters for approval.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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