In Colombia, Two Rebel Groups Take Different Paths
"I promise to lead a government that propels the birth of a new Colombia," Mr. Londoño told a crowd of FARC members
and supporters, who waved flags emblazoned with the group’s new logo — a red rose.
know that this government only has five months left — there’s nothing for them to negotiate with this government, so they say why bother?" said Ariel Avila, deputy director of the Peace
and Reconciliation Foundation, a Bogota-based think tank.
is taking advantage of the dialogue in Ecuador to strengthen itself militarily in Colombia," said Germán Vargas
Lleras, a presidential contender who was Mr. Santos’s vice president during the peace negotiations.
While the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, have signed a
peace deal with the government and entered politics, many guerrillas of the E.L.N.
"A government that at last represents the interests of the poor." Yet the speech was overshadowed by the rebel attacks, which other presidential candidates seized on as evidence
that Mr. Santos has been too soft on both FARC and E.L.N.
While Mr. Londoño, who is still wanted in the United States on drug trafficking charges, is considered a long-shot to
win in the first round of voting in May, his campaigning emphasized the rebel group’s continued commitment to peace.
