GOC SKEPTICAL OF FARC WILLINGNESS TO NEGOTIATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L BOGOTA 003953 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/29/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER PHUM KJUS CO SUBJECT: GOC SKEPTICAL OF FARC WILLINGNESS TO NEGOTIATE Classified By: Political Counselor John Creamer Reasons 1.4 (b and d) FARC SUGGESTS WILLINGNESS TO TALK PEACE -------------- ¶1. (U) The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) issued a letter, dated October 16, saying the group is willing to talk about a political solution to Colombia's conflict as well as a humanitarian release of its hostages. The communique, released publicly on October 28, responds to a September 11 letter to the FARC's Secretariat from Liberal Party Senator Piedad Cordoba and 150 mostly Colombian intellectuals, politicians, and journalists inviting the group to engage in a public, written dialogue on alternatives to the armed conflict and a humanitarian exchange of FARC-held hostages for GOC-held FARC members. The letter also asks the FARC to allow the participation of other Latin American presidents and the heads of state of "several friendly European countries" to help support a dialogue. ¶2. (U) The Secretariat agreed to engage in a written exchange with the letter's authors and called its own letter the "beginning of that dialogue." The FARC condemned what they called the GOC's "direction of perpetual war" and "false triumphalism," but said it would dialogue with the authors "without dogmatism or sectarianism." The Secretariat agreed that the involvement of Latin American presidents might help move the discussion forward, and highlighted its voluntary release of six hostages earlier this year as "an authentic testimony to the FARC's political will" to seek a peaceful solution. Local media were cautiously optimistic, and several outlets commented that this is the first time the FARC has mentioned the possibility of a peace dialogue without first demanding a demilitarized zone (despeje). Still, it is unclear whether the FARC has dropped its demand for a despeje as a condition for talks with the GOC. BUT GOC SEES NOTHING NEW IN FARC RESPONSE -------------- ¶3. (C) Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo told us on October 28 that the GOC considers the FARC letter "to be nothing new." The letter does not recognize the need to talk directly with the GOC to achieve peace and simply continues the FARC's tactic of reaching out to sympathetic interntational and domestic interlocutors in an effort to isolate the GOC. He said the GOC has no information to suggest the FARC has rethought its hardline stance and is now interested in a genuine peace process. Restrepo added that the GOC will try to avoid commenting publicly on the intiative, but, if pressed, will note that the letter does not break any new ground. BROWNFIELD