Communiqué to the Public
December 24. 2022
1. Despite the public characterization made by President Petro that we are a mercenary and drug trafficking organization, we reaffirm the commitment of the Central General Staff, under the leadership of our Commander Ivan Lozada, to formally continue in the exploratory phase of dialogue to seek solutions to the social and armed conflict that our country is suffering.
2. We remind you that since September 22. 2022, we have ordered all our guerrilla units to avoid confrontations with the security forces as long as we are not attacked, thus creating a conducive climate for a bilateral ceasefire. Unfortunately, the constant military siege and joint operations with paramilitary groups against our structures have triggered defensive actions to protect the lives of the guerrilla units.
3. Aware of the humanitarian crisis we are experiencing as a result of the historic violence by the war oligarchy and in response to the call of the Humanitarian Meeting for Peace with Social Justice, held last December 21 in Playa Rica, Suarez-Cauca, with the accompaniment of different institutions and intergovernmental organizations, where the communities mandated and the national government headed by the Minister of the Interior and the High Commissioner for Peace and congressmen from the Republic, made the commitment to implement pro-life measures for prevention and protection and for the political resolution of the social and armed conflict, we declare:
- As a new sign of our political will to declare the unilateral ceasefire from December 24. 2022, 00:00 hours, until January 2. 2023, 00:00 hours.
- In line with the commitments expressed by the government at the Humanitarian Meeting for Peace with Social Justice, we expect gestures of reciprocity that mean de-escalation of confrontations with our organization as a way to bilateral ceasefire and formalization of dialogue with our organization, for which we demand all guarantees.
- We call on the public, social organizations and human rights defenders, academic institutions, faith-based organizations, the international community and all those people and processes struggling for peace to organize for the follow-up and review of the unilateral ceasefire, paving the way for a bilateral ceasefire and formal dialogues between the national government and the FARC EP.
In these times of family and community gatherings, we hope that the Colombian people will spend their celebrations in peace and in the company of those same people. We wish them a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We hope that 2023 will be a decisive year to approach total peace.
Central General Staff
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army. FARC-EP
People and dignity, Manuel Marulanda lives, the struggle continues
source: https://kolumbieninfo.noblogs.org/
translated by Nae Midion