SAN VICENTE DEL CAGUÁN, Colombia: After 52 years of conflict, Colombia’s FARC rebels open what leaders hope will be their last wartime conference on Saturday, where they will vote on a historic peace deal with the government. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a Marxist guerrilla group launched in 1964, will hold its 10th national conference in El Caguan, its Switzerland-sized stronghold, to ratify a peace accord hashed out in nearly four years of talks. The FARC, which today has an estimated 7,500 fighters, concluded the peace deal with the government on August 24, followed by a bilateral ceasefire. Jimenez flew in for the conference this week from Cuba, where the peace talks were held. The government has yet to open peace talks with a smaller guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army or ELN.

Source: Manila Times September 17, 2016 13:52 UTC