August 30, 2019
The Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela follows with deep concern the recent events in the Republic of Colombia that show the imminent reactivation of the armed conflict between the government of that country and a group of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), thus putting an end to the Havana peace process, in which so many efforts and hopes were placed by Colombian society and the international community.
The calculated and arbitrary decisions taken by Iván Duque are public and notorious, resulting in inconceivable institutional maneuvers that, far from generating confidence and legal security in the Peace Agreement, motivated the denial of the necessary agreed guarantees, openly mocking the commitments made and protecting diverse modalities of systematic violation of human rights, including hundreds of selective assassinations of ex-combatants and social leaders.
In this regard, it is extraordinary that Iván Duque, with absolute audacity, in a despicable act, is attempting to displace his exclusive responsibility in the planned dismantling of the peace process and the non-compliance with the commitments assumed and signed by the Colombian State before the world and its people to third countries and third persons. It is necessary to emphasize that this attitude not only jeopardizes the normalization of public life in Colombia, but also threatens regional peace and security in South America.
The Bolivarian Government of Venezuela urges the protagonists of the peace accords to exhaust all efforts to prevent further suffering of the civilian population. In that regard, Venezuela is in consultation with the rest of the countries that accompany and guarantee the peace process in order to draw up immediate strategies that will allow for the re-establishment of contacts between the parties.
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela will always be at the service of the people of Colombia to cooperate in the immense challenge of creating the conditions to achieve the real and lasting peace that Colombian society deserves and yearns for after decades of bloodshed, violence and pain.
Caracas, August 30, 2019
Source: Bolivarian Government of Venezuela, translation, Internationalist 360