Colombia Against
Neighbors Mediation
The Colombian government
disregarded as unwise
granting authorization
to neighboring
governments to make
contact with the
Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (FARC),
Peace High Commissioner,
Luis Carlos Restrepo,
said Sunday.
Restrepo told El Tiempo
daily those relations
are not helpful in this
moment, neither for good
development of
diplomatic relations nor
for the humanitarian
process.
We believe that there
are some proposals and
some communication
channels that can
perfectly throw results,
if the FARC made the
decision to progress, he
said.
In relation to possible
participation of
Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez, Restrepo
said we do not think it
is necessary and we do
not consider it
appropriate.
We thank President
Chavez for his work at
the right moment, but
right now, the Colombian
government's main
interest is to
reestablish diplomatic
relations with
Venezuela.
We do not see either
Ecuador's involvement in
this humanitarian
agreement as viable,
because normalization of
diplomatic relations
with neighboring
countries is a top
priority, he said.
The Peace High
Commissioner stated that
this point of view was
presented to the French
Foreign Minister Bernard
Kouchner, during his
recent visit to
Colombia.
France advocates for
some neighboring nations
taking part in the
humanitarian agreement.
Regarding France's
concern about the lack
of contact with the FARC,
Restrepo said the
Colombian government had
recently granted
authorization to doctors
Alvaro Leyva and Carlos
Lozano to contact the
insurgents. |
