Colombia near victory in war with FARC

Guardian:

The Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos, has said he believes the country is nearing the final phase of nearly 50 years of war and that his government would be willing to sit down and start peace talks with the rebels.

The Andean nation has been wracked by bloodshed from Farc guerrillas and cocaine barons for decades, but a 2002 security crackdown drastically reduced the violence and brought in billions of dollars in foreign investment.

"The last phase of this almost 50-year-old conflict is nearing," Santos said in a speech to the armed forces on Thursday.

"It'll draw near if we persevere, it'll draw near if we continue having the successes that we've been accumulating."

Santos came to power last year vowing to continue the hardline stance of his predecessor, Alvaro Uribe. He has been behind some of the biggest successes against leftist guerrilla groups, first as Uribe's defence minister and then as president.

His government hailed the killing of Farc rebel leader Alfonso Cano earlier this month as the most devastating blow yet to the rebels.

The major advances Colombia has made on the security front, however, mask deep-seated, unresolved issues from unequal land distribution and rural poverty, to flourishing criminal gangs and politicians corrupted by drug money.

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The 2002 crackdown included support from the Bush administration and US special forces troops who trained the army in counterinsurgency operations and in gathering signal intelligence about the communist narco terrorist.  The army has reduced the area under control of FARC and it has received key intelligence that has permitted it to decapitate the leadership of FARC.