[A-List] Fw: Open letter to the member Presidents of the Group of Rio

["Christopher Black" <bar@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Subject: Open letter to the member Presidents of the Group of Rio


>
> Open letter to the member Presidents of the Group of Rio
>
> Mountains of Colombia, June 15, 2003
>
> Your Excellencies
>
> Presidents of the member countries of the Group of
> Rio
>
> In your offices.
>
> Upon hearing the news from radio reporting that the Summit of the
Presidents
> of the Group of Rio, held in Cuzco, Peru, at which you finally approved a
> resolution of support to the government of President Alvaro Uribe Velez in
> its struggle against terrorism and the narcotics traffic but not against
the
> Colombian guerrilla movement labelled by Mr. Uribe Velez as terrorist and
> narco-terrorist, while at the same time you called upon the United Nations
> to demand of the FARC-EP a unilateral cease fire and cessation of
> hostilities in order to initiate dialogues for peace with the government
of
> Colombia.
>
> In the FARC-EP, we find that this position requires greater clarity on the
> part of the leaders signing the resolution of support to Mr. Uribe Velez,
so
> that the medicine does not turn out to be worse than the illness due to
the
> unacceptability of the direct intervention of the United Nations in an
> internal conflict that Colombians must resolve in their homeland, without
> any sort of interventions.  Understanding that we Colombians are not in
> confrontation with the neighbouring countries, nor the region, nor the
> world, its solution must also be without the intervention of foreign
powers
> as the alliance of the United States, Great Britain and Spain recently did
> against the people of Iraq.
>
> We understand that during the course of the summit of the chiefs of state
in
> which the neighbours of Colombia participated, were heard the arguments
> expressed by President Uribe Velez against the guerrilla insurgency, for
the
> purpose of getting political and military backing in the battle against
the
> FARC disguised as the so-called struggle against terrorism and the
narcotics
> traffic.
>
> The FARC-EP are a revolutionary organization of political and military
> opposition to the Colombian state and political regime, which upon knowing
> the press information about the results of the Cuzco summit request of the
> participating governments an equal forum in order to explain their
proposal
> for government set down in the Political Platform and directly inform,
with
> our own voice, of the indispensable political arguments so that, making
use
> of your good judgement, you are able to analyze and conclude with
certainty
> whether it is really appropriate to give backing to Mr. Uribe Velez, or if
> on the contrary that is not the solution.  We put this forward because in
> reality we are convinced of the interest that prompts you to contribute
with
> your good offices to the political solution of the Colombian conflict by
> peaceful means.
>
>
>
>
> Due to our irrevocable commitment to the pursuit of peace with social
> justice for our people through a negotiated political solution, we in the
> FARC-EP are interested in holding with you a Forum of the same nature as
the
> one held in Cuzco, in a place chosen by common agreement with your
> representatives.
>
>
> This Forum would have the purpose of providing on our part further
> information concerning our well-known desire to find a political solution
by
> the path of diplomacy to the social and armed conflict.
>
> Finally, we await your responses and we inform you that for the purpose of
> attending the Forum as of now we have named Commandant Raul Reyes to
> represent us at that gathering.
>
> Secretariat of the Central General Staff of the FARC-EP
>
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