Members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) wait for the opening of the 10th Nacional Guerrilla Conference at Llanos del Yari, in Caqueta Department, Colombia, on September 17, 2016. FARC rebels are gathering for a congress to discuss and vote a peace accord reached with the Colombian government to end five decades of war.
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Colombians will go to the polls October 2 for a plebiscite on the treaty to end more than five decades of armed conflict in the Andean nation.
The FARC’s top commander, Rodrigo Londono Echeverri, whose nom de guerre is “Timochenko” or “Timoleon Jimenez”, inaugurated the 10th National Guerrilla Conference in a remote rural enclave called El Diamante in southeast Colombia.
Delegates representing rank-and-file FARC guerrillas gathered here for a conference have endorsed the peace accord their leaders reached with the Colombian government, but remain concerned about implementation of the deal, a member of the rebel high command said Monday.
Willington, left, a rebel of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, sits with his mother Judith as they watch a concert during the group’s 10th conference in Yari Plains, southern Colombia, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. Speaking from a giant stage planted in the desolate plains of southern Colombia, the bearded leader known by his alias Timochenko said that over the next week commanders will ratify a peace accord reached with the government last month and debate political strategy going forward.
After years of refusing to accept Santos’ invitations to talk about peace with the FARC, Uribe challenged his successor to a public debate last week, less than two weeks before the FARC’s demobilization and less than three weeks before a referendum on the deal.
Timochenko and President Juan Manuel Santos will sign the accord next week in the city of Cartagena.
The peace deal, called the Final Agreement for Ending of the Conflict and Building a Stable and Lasting Peace, will be signed in Cartagena on September 26, and will then be put to a popular vote on October 2.
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“I won’t be back in Colombia until Thursday and have an itinerary for every day because we are on campaign”, a visibly annoyed Santos told U.S. television network Univision when asked whether or not he would accept Uribe’s invitation.
