Colombian President Floats Potential Pause in Peace Talks

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos appears to have sent up a trial balloon on putting talks with FARC rebels on hold during the country’s upcoming election season. While the issue is not being discussed at the negotiating table in Havana, representatives of the guerrilla group have voiced support for the idea.

Santos first floated the possibility in a meeting on Tuesday with leading members of his Social Party of National Unity (also known as the Party of the U). As El Tiempo reports, Santos laid out the situation in Havana as he sees it. While the president remains hopeful that the talks will pick up the pace and an accord can be reached before November 18, one year after they began, he recognizes this may not be realistic. Unfortunately, the following months could put unnecessary strain on the peace process, as both legislative and presidential elections are scheduled for the first half of 2014. The former is set for March, and the latter will be held in May.

Santos outlined three possible options going forward. According to him, both parties can either freeze the dialogue while elections are underway, the government can simply walk away from the table, or the talks can continue through election season. “My own wish is for things to speed up, because people are starting to doubt the process,” said Santos, adding that “people are wondering why agreements are not being reached.”

Yesterday reporters asked FARC spokesman Andres Pais about the remark, to which he replied that the rebel group would be willing to put the talks on hold “if necessary,” but he cautioned that this would have to be a bilateral decision.

For now, however, this appears to be off the table. La Silla Vacia reports that sources in both the government and the FARC’s negotiating teams say a pause in the talks is not being discussed, and there are no plans to take up the issue in the current round of negotiations.

Postponing the talks might prove beneficial to the peace process.  By announcing a temporary recess, the talks could be insulated from the political pressures of the electoral cycle. It could discourage conservative candidates from using them as targets in their campaigns, a favorite tactic of former President Alvaro Uribe’s resurgent political force.

More likely, however, it would open up further criticism of Santos’ handling of the negotiations, perhaps fueling comparisons with the previous failed peace process, which ended following accusations that the FARC was abusing a ceasefire to strengthen itself militarily.

Caracol Radio reports that even the suggestion of putting the talks on hold has sparked a backlash among the county’s political class, including members of Santos’ own party. Former President Ernesto Samper, of the Liberal Party, was among the most notable critics of the proposal, who described it as a political error. “This would simply and easily surrender the electoral agenda to the opposition,” Samper said.

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