Colombian Guerrillas, Government Resume Talks

Leftist FARC guerrillas resumed peace talks with the Colombian government Monday in Cuba, after a year-end break.

The Bogota government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia have been negotiating for more than two years in Havana to bring an end to the 50-year insurgency, but key issues remain unresolved, including disarmament and how any agreement should be ratified.

"We resumed the talks, and are hoping to continue to seek an agreement in the terms known by the people of Colombia and the whole world," said a statement from the guerrillas read to the press by commander Joaquin Gomez.

Gomez criticized an initiative launched by President Juan Manuel Santos in 2013 that would put any peace accord to a national referendum.

"Everything has its time and place, which does not give space to false solutions like referendums with electoral flavors and ambitions beyond what was already agreed," said Gomez.

The government delegation led by Humberto de la Calle made no statements to the press as the two sides resumed negotiations after taking a break for a month and a half, during which the FARC declared a unilateral ceasefire.

Peace negotiations began in November 2012 and so far the two sides have agreed on three of the six points of the agenda to end a conflict estimated to have claimed the lives of more than 220,000 people over half a century.