Letter from activists and scholars, January 11, 2002

Letter from activists and scholars, January 11, 2002

TO THE GOVERNMENT OF COLOMBIA, THE FARC, THE UNITED NATIONS, COLOMBIAN SOCIETY AND THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

We who sign below are completely persuaded that the only valid and viable alternative for Colombia to deepen and consolidate democracy in the country is through a negotiated solution to the internal armed conflict. Recourse to armed confrontation will never lead to a legitimate and lasting peace. Colombia needs peace with principles and not a fratricidal and degraded confrontation.

In the face of the situation generated in the last 24 hours in terms of of the frustrated conversations between the government and the FARC, we make an appeal to the UN to organize and to send a Special Mission to Colombia in an expeditious fashion. This Mission would seek to restore communication between the parties and to faciliate the elaboration of a minimum agenda to place the process on firm and verifiable bases in order to help assure a negotiated political outcome to the national armed conflict.

At the same time, we ask the presidential candidates to meet in order to promote a statement with the same goals and in order to establish the basic initial parameters for a future policy of the State in this matter. The candidates should be willing to pledge their support to these goals regardless of the electoral result for the office of the presidency.

In addition, we extend an invitation to the Group of 7 plus Russia, the Rio Group, the European Union and the United States to offer their good offices to help insure the sucess of the effort of the United Nations in this process.

At the same time, we propose the conformation of a National Committee of Verification to be established through an agreement between the Government of Colombia and the FARC, with the object of examining specifically the issue of the guarantees required for the process of negotiation in this new stage.

Finally, we ask the Government of Colombia and the FARC to accept the presence and the steps taken by the Special Mission of the UN, as well as all other efforts which contribute to the proposed goal of a negotiated solution to the Colombia armed conflict.

Firman por Colombia, Álvaro Camacho, Eduardo Pizarro, Gonzalo Sánchez, Alfredo Molano, María Emma Mejía, Alejo Vargas, Juan Carlos Flores, Daniel García-Peña, Enrique Santos Calderón, Rafael Santos Calderón, Alvaro Tirado, Rodrigo Pardo, Guillermo González, Ana Cristina Mejía, Juan Tokatlián, Mauricio Reina, Magdalena León, Francisco Leal, Arturo Escobar, Jaime Zuluaga, Clara Nieto, León Valencia, Iván Orozco, así como los miembros del Programa de Desarrollo y Paz del Magdalena Medio Francisco de Roux, Javier Moncayo, Francisco Cruz, Miriam Villegas, Artemio Mejía, Agueda Plata, Fernando Avila y Ubencel Duque. Siguen más firmas.

Por Estados Unidos, Bruce Bagley, William Smith, Jonathan Hartlyn, Adam Isacson, Douglas Sofer, Kimberly Stanton y siguen decenas de firmas.

Por Francia, Daniel Pecaut y Jean-Michel Blanquer.

Por Austria, Gerhard Drekonja.

Por Canada, Catherine LeGrand y Cristina Rojas

En total hay unas 80 firmas