Colombian FARC announces cease-fire

FARC, Colombia's leading rebel group, announced a temporary halt to anti-government activity as a goodwill gesture during negotiations with the government. The unilateral move began Monday and will last to Jan. 20, it said, although the Bogota government said previously it will not participate in a cease-fire until a final agreement, now being negotiated in Havana, is achieved. The leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, has been at odds with the government since the 1960s, making it the longest-running insurgency in Latin America, CNN said Monday. "The end of the armed conflict is the precursor to peace. To achieve it we have to go deep into the transformation of society," said Colombian government representative Humberto de la Calle. "We are not the guerrillas that some media make us out to be," countered FARC representative Ivan Marquez. "We come to the table with proposals and projects to achieve a definitive peace, a peace that implies a demilitarization of the state, and radical socioeconomic reforms."