Santos reiterates that Farc does not exist and that ‘Márquez’ faction is a criminal gang

[Akrapovic]

The former president, who signed the agreements that concluded with the demobilization of that guerrilla, reiterated that the rearmed leaders seek to avoid justice.

"For more political clothes they want to wear, nobody will recognize them as political partners, because the FARC ceased to exist," Santos told Efe. "Commanders who represent 90 percent of the guerrillas who stayed in the process are saying, they have nothing to do with us."

The 2016 Nobel Peace Prize recalled that alias 'Iván Márquez' and 'Jesús Santrich', two of the three leaders of the group that announced last week the return to arms, are traitors to the process and did so for personal reasons or for profit

"For profit, for drug trafficking or to avoid justice in the cases of 'Márquez' and 'Santrich', because they knew that the nephew of 'Márquez' [Marlon Marín], in the hands of the US authorities, was giving them away", Santos said in explaining the causes of the announcement of the former guerrillas to revive a movement that will operate clandestinely.
Santos made an analysis of the peace process that ended with the demobilization of the FARC in 2017 and noted that the staging of the agreement is on track, despite the normal difficulties of something as difficult as a reconciliation after 54 years of war.

"A peace process that has too many edges with a long time to consolidate, but I am optimistic that what we did has no legal, international and political reversal in the country," he said.

For the Colombian president between 2010 and 2018, it is a good sign that the most active members of what were the Farc such as Timoleón Jiménez ('Timochenko'), Carlos Antonio Losada, Pastor Alape and Pablo Catatumbo, have stood firm in favor of peace.

“That is good news and that is why what we have seen is that the country, with some exceptions, believes that the best way to dismiss what happened (the return to arms by a group) is to continue complying or accelerate compliance with the agreements, ”he added.

Referring to his critics, the politician explained that, as Minister of Defense and then as President, he did what he thought was the right thing, so it would be unpo[CENSORED]r and he would do it again.

“At what cost? The cost of peace is high. It is more difficult to make peace than war, but the cost is always less than continuing the war, ”he said.

Santos is in Mexico in coincidence with the publication by the publishing label Planeta of his book ‘The battle for peace’, a complete account of the difficult road to end the conflict with the Farc, until then, the oldest guerrilla in the world.

The book, of 589 pages, details the process from its beginnings and in it Santos recreates the idea that he has no enemies, but adversaries, although he fought them with energy while they did not sit down to talk.

“I had to be successful in waging war. They called me the executioner of the Farc. Under my mandate and under my ministry it was when the FARC was given the strongest blows, and that was deliberate because one of the necessary conditions for a good peace process was to take them to the negotiating table convinced that this was the way Right. Otherwise they would never negotiate, ”he reiterated.

On the plebiscite with which he tried to ensure that Colombians endorse his struggle for peace and received a refusal, he acknowledged that he underestimated the power of the lie of his adversaries, which caused him to defeat, but in the end the no to his proposal was a triumph.

“I think that in the end it was better because we managed to improve many things (in the agreement) that had not been clear enough. There is no harm that for good does not come, we are better than before, ”he concluded.