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"The basic terms to build the Colombia each person wants are in that agreement, to work for it in peace, not violence."
Rodrigo “Timochenko” Londoño, the leader of the demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group, said in an interview with EFE that one economic power sector was blocking the peace achieved after half a century of war in Colombia.
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Despite signing the peace agreement on Nov. 24, 2016, he said it did not achieve "a complete peace and, unfortunately, there still remains a sector of this country’s ruling class that wants to prevent the words from being heard and that still uses violence as a way of resolving conflicts."
Because of economic inerests at stake, this small sector represented by current President Duque, opposes the agreements and reconciliation, he added.
Asked if he thought Duque would completely empty the agreement of sense, he responded: "Let him listen to the demands of the people, let him accept an agreement that an insurgent group like the FARC made with the Colombian state."
"An agreement that the majority of Colombians have accepted as their own," he insisted.
About the poor results of the FARC party in the recent Senate elections, he admitted that it was "a political mistake" to launch the election campaignt they did, amid "extremely complex conditions:" "We’re newborns in open politics, we’re learning."
Timochenko expressed the FARC's aspitation to create a bloc or become part of an alternative bloc that has leftist forces, center-left or green, saying it has "not been easy."
He advocated for "dialogue and mobilization" as a response to the at least 140 former combatants that have been murdered since the signing of the peace agreement, as well as social leaders.
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