Brazil may host Colombia peace meeting
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BRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters) -- Brazil said on Monday it would consider hosting a landmark meeting between Colombian Marxist rebels and the United Nations on ways to stem bloodshed in Latin America's longest current guerrilla war.
The Colombian government's chief peace negotiator, Luis Carlos Restrepo, said on Sunday there would definitely be a meeting and there had been informal talks to host it in neighboring Brazil.
The meeting -- if it took place -- would mark Bogota's first dialogue with the FARC, since the rebel's peace talks with the Colombian government collapsed in February 2002.
"In case there is a formal request from Colombia and the United Nations, Brazil will examine the request," Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said in a prepared statement. "Brazil is always willing to contribute in order for Colombia to find a negotiated solution that respects the sovereignty of the country."
Brazil is one of a small group of nations that has resisted Colombian calls to brand the 17,000-member Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, a "terrorist" organization, making it an ideal spot for the talks.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose Workers' Party in the past had contacts with the FARC, has said his country stands ready to help win peace in Colombia.
Brazil has its own reasons for wanting peace in Colombia. The nation is one of the region's biggest markets for Colombian drugs and Brazilian authorities have found increasing evidence of gangs dealing directly with the FARC.
Last year, Brazilian authorities cracked a gang that police said was trading guns for cocaine with the FARC.
A meeting would answer a July call by the rebels for a meeting with a U.N. representative to explain "opinions and proposals for solutions to avoid unnecessary deaths of more compatriots." The conflict claims thousands of lives a year.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, whom the FARC has called a fascist, promises to defeat the rebels on the battlefield if they do not call a cease-fire and negotiate. FARC rebels killed Uribe's father in the early 1980s during a botched kidnapping attempt.
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