Colombian Bishops Urge Rebels to End 40-Year Strife

BOGOTA, Colombia, JUNE 3, 2004 (Zenit.org).- On the 40th anniversary of its insurgency, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia was urged by the Church to forgo weapons and embrace peace.

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Archbishop Luis Augusto Castro of Tunja, vice president of the Colombian episcopal conference, exhorted the rebel FARC last week, RCN radio reported.

«Forty years of war are enough; celebrate your anniversary by seeking a definitive way to begin the next 40 years, but with political, not violent, commitment,» said the archbishop, who is a member of a commission that endeavors to bring the government and rebel forces closer.

In the context of the anniversary, Raul Reyes, spokesman of the armed rebel group, said that the struggle would continue because it is not possible to obtain power through elections.

«There are no real conditions to participate in clean and transparent elections because the political game and institutional crime were imposed against the legal opposition to the governing regime,» Reyes told the Associated Press.

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