国际英语新闻:Colombia, FARC resume peace talks in Cuba

HAVANA, June 3 (Xinhua) -- The Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) insurgent group resumed peace talks Tuesday in Havana, capital of Cuba, to find a negotiated settlement to five decades of fighting in the South American country.

"Today we begin a series of preparatory meetings aimed at beginning discussions on the next topic of the six-point agenda: victims," head government negotiator Humberto de la Calle told reporters before the session, the 26th of the kind, started at the Havana Convention Center.

Reparations for victims of the fighting and their families are one of several priority issues the two sides agreed to discuss during the talks.

Representatives of both sides also called on Colombians to defend the peace process when they go to the polls on June 15 in a second round of voting to elect the next president.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, who is running for reelection, initiated the talks, but lost the initial round of votes in May to his conservative rival Oscar Ivan Zuluaga, a protege of former hardline president Alvaro Uribe, who opposes negotiating with the rebels. Right-wing Zuluaga won the most votes in the first round but not enough to avoid a run-off set for June 15.

"Colombia has everything to defend the peace process. I call on Colombians to not let themselves be confused by so many lies, so much fallacy," said De la Calle.

He affirmed that Colombia's armed forces, which receive substantial funds from the United States for anti-rebel operations, have been discrediting the peace process.

FARC spokesman Ivan Marquez said, "we have to commit our most fervent efforts to be able to cross the darkness of the war that has pursued Colombia for more than 60 years. The moment has arrived to put an end to this conflict."

The 26th round of the negotiations is scheduled to last only a few days, as it is designed to simply lay the groundwork for the issue of reparations.

Since the talks began in November 2012, the two sides have already reached some agreements on the issues of agrarian reform, the rebels' transition to private life or politics after they have laid down arms, and the FARC's ties to drug trafficking as a source of revenue.