Colombia to fight rebels despite possible peace talks

The Colombian government and military will continue to combat the leftist insurgents despite possible talks for a truce, Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon said Sunday. In an interview with the El Tiempo newspaper, Pinzon said "the Colombian people can rest assured that neither the president (Juan Manuel Santos) nor I, nor the armed forces will lower our resolve to fight all outlaw organizations." The president ordered to keep pressure on the rebels and "not giving an inch," Pinzon noted, pledging that the defense ministry and the armed forces would support the pursuit of a settlement with the rebels. In fact, "what's coming could be even harder, because we are going to continue strengthening the public (security) forces ... improving their intelligence capabilities, increasing their hardware and resources," said the minister. Last week, government envoys and leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) made contact in Cuba to discuss the possibility of holding peace talks to end the half-century-long armed struggle. Santos said last Monday that leaders of Colombia's second-largest leftist group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), also attended the "exploratory talks." The FARC and the ELN have a total of 10,000 members, according to government figures.