Colombia: government suspends FARC peace talks

2014-11-17 1,449

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has suspended peace talks with Marxist FARC rebels after an army general was kidnapped.

General Ruben Dario Alzate was captured on a river near the city of Quibdo after getting off a boat.

Another military official and a lawyer were also abducted. One soldier managed to escape and inform authorities.

Santos’s government and FARC, or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, have been working towards a bilateral cease-fire and disarming of the rebel group.

The military was handling the logistics of the militant disarmament.

Although nobody has claimed responsibility for the kidnappings, the president had warned FARC that it risked jeopardising the peace process after two soldiers were abducted last week.