Colombian president urges non-violence

Roiled by a week-long nationwide strike and struggling through peace negotiations with the nation's largest rebel group, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos Sunday called on the country to reject violence. "Today, I invite you to bet on the dream of a different Colombia, to trust that we can stop the bloodletting we have suffered for half a century," Santos said at the start of the 35th Solidarity Walk held in the capital city Bogota. Santos said his administration was trying to create the conditions for a lasting peace by talking with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to end five decades of fighting between security forces and the armed leftist rebels. And the talks with the FARC, which began last November, appeared to be making progress. However, the national strike launched last Monday by farmers, coffee growers and other groups has resulted in violence in parts of the country, leaving at least four people dead and hundreds of others wounded, causing food and fuel shortages, and lost of millions of dollars. Farmers began the protests against several free-trade agreements the government has signed with different countries, including the United States, saying the terms are damaging to the national agricultural sector, but workers in other fields have joined their strike, including truckers and independent miners. Police said Sunday an officer was killed in the central department (state) of Cundinamarca, during a clash with protesters blocking a highway there. Santos tried to diffuse the rising tensions in the central part of the country, by dismissing claims the farmers were responsible for the police officer's death, and instead blaming delinquents for infiltrating the protesters' ranks.