Amid Ceasefire In Colombia, FARC Proposes US Military Funding Go To Peace-Building Fund

[Judi Lynn]

Source: International Business Times

Amid Ceasefire In Colombia, FARC Proposes US Military Funding Go To Peace-Building Fund
By Michelle Mark @michelleamark [e-mail] on November 06 2015 11:51 AM EST

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a leftist guerrilla group also known FARC, proposed to the United States government Thursday that military aid to the South American country should be directed to a peace-building fund, TeleSUR English reported. The FARC negotiators -- based in Havana -- proposed the fund as part of 10 recommendations to end the civil war that has raged in Colombia for more than 50 years.

“The resources allocated to military aid should be redirected in their entirety to the fund” to end the conflict, according to a statement read by Lucas Carvajal, a FARC peace delegation member. The statement also called upon Colombian President Juan Manual Santos to “redefine the current structure of public expenditure…in particular, the spending on security and defense.”

FARC wants to make the national fund valid for 10 years, with an investment of 1.5 percent to 2 percent of the total GDP for the next five years. It also suggested eliminating tax breaks to big businesses, requiring that they pay a “special contribution” to the fund and requiring that mining and energy countries make contributions to the fund.

Peace talks have been in the works between the rebel group and the Colombian government since 2012, and FARC announced a ceasefire over the summer shortly before meeting with the government officials in September to agree to work on a landmark peace deal expected be signed within six months. FARC has operated as a terrorist group in the country since the 1960s and has denied criminal accusations to prevent jail time for its members.

Read more: http://www.ibtimes.com/amid-ceasefire-colombia-farc-proposes-us-military-funding-go-peace-building-fund-2173236

[Peace Patriot]

1. "FARC has operated as a terrorist group...". That's Bushwhacky language.

I remember when the language was CHANGED, post-9/11, by the Bushwhacks, to INCLUDE the FARC on its "terrorist" list, in order to create an even greater U.S. military/private contractor/DEA/drug lord boondoggle in Colombia, with $7 BILLION of our tax dollars, to a military (the Colombian government's) that has one of the worst human rights records on earth, and is notorious for "false positives," massacres of innocent people and drug dealing.

It's time to end this use of the word "terrorist." Or, if you're going to use it this way--as a term to describe the illegitimate use of violence to attain some end--whether political or resource--then the U.S. military has to be included (did it not just use terror--bombing a hospital for one hour, slaughtering 30 patients and staff--to scare Doctors Without Borders from providing medical care to "the enemy" in Afghanistan? did it not use "shock and awe" bombing, slaughtering tens of thousands of people, to gain control of Iraq's oil?), and U.S. military trained/funded entities like the Colombian military need to be included. They are bloody terrorists and responsible for way more violence in Colombia than the FARC is (according to Amnesty International stats).

Glad to see the FARC/Colombian government peace negotiations getting down to the real foundation issues of this civil war--the U.S.-instigated atrocities, and the horrible inequality. Imagine if $7 billion had been spent on peace and on fairness. It may be hard to imagine our tax dollars going to peace and fairness, but at the least it should STATED that is preferable to endless war.

[jtuck004]

2. A Democrat as President sending military aid to a nation south of here

to fight against "rebels" who want to, among other things, make corporations pay their fair share of taxes.

Terrorists no doubt.

A payment the President could stop with an executive order. Not w/o costs, of course, but doable.

Could be keeping us safe, or it could just be irony.

[Bradical79]

3. Sounds good to me -nt