Havana, Dec 11 (IANS/EFE) The Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas resumed peace talks here Wednesday after a weeks-long suspension due to the rebels' capture of army Gen. Ruben Dario Alzate.
The government's lead negotiator, Humberto de la Calle, said the return to the negotiating table in Havana "confirms we have left behind events in recent weeks that caused the troubles the country knows about."
The comment was his only reference to the first major crisis in the peace process that began in November 2012.
President Juan Manuel Santos suspended talks last month after a unit of the FARC, captured Alzate and two companions in a remote rebel-dominated area.
The rebels subsequently released their captives.
The rebel delegates in Havana did not mention the incident Wednesday, FARC representative Pablo Catatumbo instead read a statement on humanitarian law in armed conflicts emphasising the army's massive material superiority over the insurgents.
It is "incompatible with common sense" to denounce the FARC for using improvised ordnance against the security forces when the latter "indiscriminately use offensive air attacks and 1.5-ton bombs," Catatumbo said.
The FARC, he said, has never pursued strategies of "generalised attacks on the civilian population."
--IANS/EFE
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