Bogota, April 22 (PL-RHC)-- Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos reiterated his decision to keep the peace efforts by means of a dialogue with the rebel movements, as the way to end up the armed conflict in Colombia.

"I choose peace, as a port of destination. And I have taken risks seeking it," said the Colombian president. " A total of 50 years of war and 200,000 should be a tragic remnant to be convinced that more blood will keep on shedding if we do not negotiate the end of this war," said the Colombian president.

During the opening of the National Peace Council in Bogota, Santos said he was sorry for the death of 11 members of the Colombian Army in a confrontation with members of the Colombia Revolutionary Armed Forces-People's Army (FARC-EP).

Such an event was described by Santos as a deliberate act, and spokesmen for the insurgent group said that it was an episode derived from the military siege against their troops despite the war truce decreed last December 20 by that movement.

Following these events, Santos decided to resume the bombing of the FARC-EP, suspended for more than a month, but not renew ground offensives.

Under such a scenario, critics of the talks and other actors in the national stage demanded "tough" or a strengthening of the offensive against the group, involved in the confrontation.
Government and the FARC-EP teams are meeting in Havana since 2012 to find a negotiated solution to the civil war.

Despite recent events and the various positions around the surrounding circumstances, both delegations reaffirmed their decision to continue the cycle of meetings to reach an agreement to end the conflagration.