Two FARC rebels killed in southern Colombia

The Colombian army killed two rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) during gun battles in the southern department of Caquetá, at an unspecified date, the daily El Espectador reported on 18 December. The guerrillas were killed in a rural part of the Solano district; the army declared operations were continuing in the zone. One of Colombia's senators was separately reported as urging the states guaranteeing the current peace talks between the FARC and the state to press the FARC to release child soldiers, whom she described as "kidnapped for the war." Norway and Cuba are acting as guarantors of the talks and Venezuela and Chile are "accompanying" them, though Venezuela and Cuba's socialist regimes likely enjoy greater influence with the FARC. Gilma Jiménez Gómez a senator of the Green Party, recently said that "if the FARC do not return underage recruits, which means kidnapped for the war, the process will be illegal...and immoral," El Espectador reported on 18 December without dating her remarks. She said "recruiting" children in the FARC was a euphemism for kidnapping. It was not clear if the subject was to be specifically discussed during talks in Havana, while no figures were given for the number of children in the FARC's ranks. Jiménez formerly headed the social welfare department at the Bogotá municipality; she was elected to the Senate for four years in 2010, El Espectador reported.