Colombia's FARC rebels issue progress report on peace talks

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group Thursday issued its "first report on the state of the peace talks" with the government as their latest round of negotiations resumed in Havana, Cuba. In the report distributed to the press, the FARC said the two sides have so far achieved "somewhat more than 25 pages of partial (but) modest agreements." After a two-week recess, the current 15th round of talks focus on the rebels' participation in political life, once they have disarmed. The FARC said the talks have brought together "two outlooks trying to find points of agreement." One is the government's neo-liberal development perspective which gives priority to the interests of transnational companies. And the other is the perspective of the insurgency, which represents the demands of the majority, such as comprehensive agrarian reform, social justice and democracy based on peace with sovereignty. Despite the opposing viewpoints, the FARC admitted "the government's willingness to make progress in the talks," and said they believed that solutions would be found to "essential issues for rural transformation, which has yet to be resolved." The peace talks aimed at ending a half-century conflict between the two sides began last November around a five-point agenda, starting with a redistribution of land and rural development, which led to several agreements in May. Last week, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said peace was attainable, and on Tuesday he submitted a bill to Congress calling for a referendum on any eventual peace deal with the rebel group. The FARC has not yet agreed to the proposal, calling it a unilateral move, and has instead backed constitutional changes.