Colombian President Eyes 'Happy Ending' in Peace Talks

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos called Tuesday for serious peace talks when negotiations between his government and Marxist FARC guerrillas resume this week to ensure a "happy ending."

Santos' office said government representatives and members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) would resume talks in Havana on Wednesday.

"I hope that these conversations are held with enthusiasm and seriousness, because until now they have taken place in order to get a happy ending," Santos said at the end of the Ibero-American summit in Veracruz, Mexico.

The 22-nation summit, which includes Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American leaders, issued a statement backing the negotiations and calling for "a final agreement as soon as possible."

Colombian officials and rebels agreed last week to revive the talks after the FARC released a general and other captives who had been kidnapped last month.

The negotiations, which started in November 2012, seek an end to Colombia's five-decade internal conflict which has killed 220,000 people and uprooted about 5.3 million.

Negotiations have so far produced agreements on land reform, fighting the drug trafficking that has fueled the conflict, and political participation for guerrilla fighters.