FARC negotiators Iván Marquez and Pablo Catatumbo have both been unsatisfied with the adamant refusal of the Santos government to tackle tough points in the peace negotiations. This is especially the case with disagreements having to do with the agrarian question.
The government of Colombia has been forced to negotiate with peasants' organizations in the wake of the peasants' strong show of force. The rural workers who have mounted Colombia's national agrarian strike are staying the course after four peasants and one policeman were killed and scores more detained. Hundred of thousands of peasants and small farmers are participating in this historic mobilization whose scope and magnitude have not been seen for decades.
Today Monday, August 19, Colombia is witnessing a general rural strike involving most of its population—a strike revealing the deep crisis of the rentier-economic model.
The United States has historically played a critical role in Colombia's civil war due to its special links with its military that were cemented through Plan Colombia.
An agreement on the agrarian question is emerging from the peace talks between the FARC and the Colombian government which could usher in a revolution in land tenure.
While negotiations continue between the Santos government and the FARC, potato farmers in the countryside went on strike. This comes in the wake of the widespread protest movement staged by the small coffee growers some weeks ago.
The progress and a successful conclusion of the current peace talks in Colombia largely depends on a change in U.S. policy toward the Andean subregion and in Latin America at large.
