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LequteMan
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Colombia government and Marxist FARC rebels sat down in Havana on Monday to continue negotiations aimed at ending the last major guerilla conflict in Latin America, as fighting raged and national elections loomed in the Andean nation.
After a three-week break, talks resumed with the FARC attacking the government's refusal to enter a ceasefire and President Juan Manuel Santos staking his reelection on reaching a peace deal in 2014 following 14 months of negotiations.
The FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, has been fighting the government in a jungle and urban conflict that has killed more than 200,000 people in the five decades since it began as a peasant movement seeking land reform.
Colombians go to the polls in March to elect a new congress and again in May to elect a president.
The centre-right Santos is running on ending the civil war by keeping up military pressure on the rebels even as the negotiations proceed.
His main opponent, rightist Oscar Ivan Zuloaga, says he will end the talks and defeat the FARC militarily.
After a three-week break, talks resumed with the FARC attacking the government's refusal to enter a ceasefire and President Juan Manuel Santos staking his reelection on reaching a peace deal in 2014 following 14 months of negotiations.
The FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, has been fighting the government in a jungle and urban conflict that has killed more than 200,000 people in the five decades since it began as a peasant movement seeking land reform.
Colombians go to the polls in March to elect a new congress and again in May to elect a president.
The centre-right Santos is running on ending the civil war by keeping up military pressure on the rebels even as the negotiations proceed.
His main opponent, rightist Oscar Ivan Zuloaga, says he will end the talks and defeat the FARC militarily.