HAVANA, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Colombia's FARC rebels said on Sunday they were "moderately optimistic" about progress achieved so far in their peace talks with the government to end a decades-old conflict in the country.
"We have achieved enough progress. We are moderately optimistic," said Ricardo Tellez, representative of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the hemisphere's largest guerrilla army known as the FARC.
Tellez also said the rebel group will attend the Third Rural Reserve Zones Meeting to be held Friday and Saturday in Colombia's southwest department of Caqueta.
"Nobody can impede this. We will be present, whether the government likes it or not. This is not a challenge. It is a simple reality," said Tellez.
The Rural Reserve Zones in Colombia are autonomous regions in waste land, whose ownership papers were transferred to the people who work there.
These areas were established under the Colombian law, but in the last 20 years only six have been actually set up.
The government delegation headed by former Vice President Humberto de la Calle did not make any comments.
The two camps, currently engaged in their sixth round of talks in Havana, are discussing land issues, political participation, the end of armed conflicts, drug trafficking, the rights of victims and the mechanisms to verify and monitor the agreements achieved in the talks.
|
