Colombia, FARC Rebel Group Announce Major Breakthrough in Peace Talks

Both sides also confirmed the formation of a truth commission, a deal on reparations for war victims and an amnesty for combatants who had not committed war crimes.

“I want to recognize and value the step that the FARC has taken today”, said Santos, seated on the same dais as the rebel leader known as Timochenko and Cuban President Raul Castro.

The FARC peace delegation had said on Twitter that Timochenko was already in Havana and sent images of him dressed in a sweat suit arriving on a chartered flight to Havana and relaxing in a leather sofa chair with rebel negotiators.

The chief of the FARC secretariat and Santos have agreed that the negotiation should come to an end within six months and a final agreement should be signed, Santos told a ceremony in, the site of peace talks for the past three years.

Santos has announced a surprise trip Wednesday to Cuba for a key meeting with government peace negotiators trying to wrap up talks aimed at ending the country’s long-running conflict.

In July, Santos said that if peace negotiators reach an agreement on justice, the talks would be “home free” after half a century of conflict.

Still on the table for discussion are points such as a bilateral and definitive cease-fire, a review of the situation by the government of FARC prisoners and intensified government efforts to combat criminal organizations in the country. Santos made the announcement as he presented his new anti-drug policy in a speech on national TV, after cocaine production surged more than 50 percent from 2013 to 2014 despite an aggressive US-backed crackdown. Alfredo Rangel, a senator with the Democratic Centre party of the former president, ÁlvaroUribe, which has been sharply critical of the negotiations, said he was concerned that whatever is agreed will amount to “impunity in disguise”.

Some Colombians had expressed their frustration with the slow pace of the talks, as no major agreement had been reached since June 2014.

The justice deal is expected to lay out how FARC fighters will pay for human rights violations and other crimes.

May 2013 – A deal is reached on land reform, one of the most contentious issues. FARC, for example, announced a unilateral ceasefire earlier this year only to call it off in May.

Aerial spraying of glyphosate – a two-decade, U.S.-supported and operated program unpopular with many Colombians – was suspended by Santos in May after the release of a World Health Organization report suggesting the chemical may cause cancer.

April 2015 – Government resumes air strikes after the Farc kills 11 soldiers in ambush.