Bogota, Sep 5 (EFE).- No casualties or fighting have been reported in Colombia since the start of the bilateral cease-fire between the FARC guerrilla group and the government on Aug. 29, President Juan Manuel Santos said Monday.
“There hasn’t been a single death, not one person wounded, no clashes with the FARC, that’s a lot of Colombian lives that have been saved,” Santos said during an appearance at the Casa de Nariño, the seat of the government.
Santos declared a cease-fire with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, at midnight on Aug. 29 after his administration signed a peace agreement with the rebel group.
The government and the FARC, Colombia’s oldest and largest leftist guerrilla movement, signed a peace agreement on Aug. 24 after nearly four years of negotiations.
“Each day we live without conflict with the FARC, we save Colombian lives, that’s the clear and evident benefit of having ended this armed conflict that bled us for some many years. Saving these lives each day, that’s the main goal of the agreement we signed,” Santos said.
Colombians will vote in a referendum on Oct. 2 to decide whether or not to approve the peace deal.
“Continuing to save lives with your vote is in your hands,” Santos told Colombians.