It's been two years. And the State has not complied with the agreement they signed. What do the international representatives tell you?
They do more to say. Your work is of great importance. The United Nations, for example, has shown its commitment. They're very attentive. The decisions of the Security Board have shown that: In Colombia, they have decided to extend their mission. The Government cannot, even knowingly, turn a blind eye and has put a stop to the more radical sectors of uribism so that the agreements are not broken.

We managed this process because many factors came together, but there were two decisive elements: the involvement of the military authorities in office, we agreed with them how to put a definitive ceasefire and leave the arms; and the international contribution. From the outset, in times of secret negotiations, Cuba and Norway cooperated there. Then there was more support, do not forget that the United States also had a representative on its travels to Havana.

What has been signed in the agreement is being implemented half-heartedly, at best. How can you turn that around with such mediocre election results that are incipient in the field of legal political play?
Look, we are not fools, and in Havana we were not idiots either. We knew that it was very difficult to achieve compliance with what was agreed there. We knew we had to keep fighting. And that's where we are. But we have retained the two most important points of the agreement. And we will maintain political participation and our legal certainty at all costs. Some people said and said (Ivan) that if Duque got the presidency, we would be taken away from the parliamentary representation that had been included in the agreement. For we have succeeded in getting those parliamentarians and parliamentarians to take their seats. The other key is the legal certainty of these former guerrillas. And we also keep it, stopping the attacks on each other. These two aspects will be thanked for the fulfilment of the other points of the agreement.

He says that they have managed to maintain legal certainty. Iván Márquez and a dozen leaders who have decided to hide with him do not perceive that legal certainty.
That's their perception, yes. But the rest of us are here, tense, fighting. Are we afraid? Of course! Uribism is constantly in sabotage and what they have done to Santrich is precisely a maneuver prepared to frighten us. Well, some of our comrades got scared. Fear must be respected, what are we going to do to it? But whoever decides to hide leaves the way open for those who want to break the agreement. Jeopardising what has been gained through so many efforts.

A U.S. judge accuses FARC manager Jesús Santrich of a drug trafficking crime committed after the signing of the peace agreement and keeps him in prison until Colombian justice decides on his extradition. They say the denunciation is a montage. Have you noticed any other such ploy?
Yes. I’ve never told, but… we got the audios of an army leader, who was setting up a trap against Pablo Catatumbo and other burgomasters in collaboration with the DEA (U.S. Anti-Drug Agency). We warn it in time and report it to the prosecution.

Is there a danger of division in the FARC?
We have always been a united team and we want to remain united.

Do you not trust Ivan Márquez? Is he a friend of yours?
I've known her since she decided to bring the guerrillas together to fight back in 1982. We worked together for a while and we can say that we had a friendship. He was at the forefront of our representation at the negotiating table and did not take any decision at the table without having previously discussed and agreed with the whole group.

Now, however, it has taken the distance from those in Congress and from those, like you, who are engaged in public political activism, determined to hide. Don't you think you can create a competition to influence the direction of the entire team? Anyone who might think of replacing?
I've been in the FARC secretariat for many years, and those kinds of ideas don't get in my head. I ask myself: What does Ivan Márquez do? He had expressed his concern, but he did not notify me before I went, not even to the management.

Will he be at the helm of the FARC for a long time?
As long as people want. He gave me the first command, newly arrived at the guerrillas, when they put me in front of a herd of six men to clean a banana. He was very young. Since then I have learned to do what I have said, even if I do not like it. They made me a nurse against my will. Putting an injection on someone is a suffering for me, but I resisted until another opportunity was opened for me. And I'm going to keep it in leadership as the will of the group is.

What's going on in Congress?
Most importantly, we're opening new spaces. If the more than 48 parliamentarians (ten of the FARC, 280 in total) accumulate, the Basque Parliament is in Congress. It is a force to bear in mind.

Will Ivan Duque take root in the peace process?
We need the president to hear us. We have asked him for a meeting and he has not received us so far, but I hope we will convince him.

What comes to mind when listening to Juan Manuel Santos?
He committed himself to peace. Really, really scared. Santos is a born member of the ruling class, and this process could not have been put in place if that kind of leadership had not wanted it. We convinced them and they convinced us. The collaboration was very long, and Santos always had above his head the sword of Damocles, which uribism had laid upon his heads. When we were around the table, to justify their denials, we were told several times: “We can’t accept that; it can hit us with uribism and tear us apart.” I will not forget it: at the end of the negotiations I received a call from President Santos in Havana, at night, very late. He asked me to give up political participation, at least he wanted us to stay out of competition in the 2018 elections. I told him it was a red line. After such a long struggle, how are we going to leave the arms and say that we are not going to enter politics? How, politics as the center of our being?

Contact Santos now?
I know their existence through our common acquaintances. I know you're at Harvard (EE.UU.) And it works to defend the process in those academic environments.

Why has the State not occupied the areas that you controlled before?
That is a good question for them! The State is incapable and has not had political will. I might think that the authorities did not expect to reach an agreement, because when we managed to do so they were not prepared. Please bear this in mind: the reform of the rural environment is the first point of the agreement, since we have been discussing this paragraph for almost a year. And in order for it to be fulfilled, we must break the tradition of the landowners, we must attack many powerful forces: the landowners, and often the drug traffickers who are mixed with them, and the political leaders of the regions that are in relation to them.

How can drug trafficking end?
First, leaving aside hypocrisy. We should talk about it without drowning, because it is a complicated issue. In addition, demand is at the base and the international community therefore has a role to play. There is one thing that is clear: drug trafficking would not be removed from repression.

The dialogue between the government and the ELN guerrilla seems to be going on, what do you think is going to happen?
We made a great effort to get the ELN to start its process, in the valley of ours. Ours was going forward and yours wasn't going away, and we knew this was going to be a problem. And that's it. They did not seize the opportunity and it will be much more difficult with Santos and Duque, who represent the kind of leaders who do not want to start the process. What they want is surrender, without even opening the door to political negotiation. We have not been opened the door wide, but we have found a space to enter the game and from now on it is up to us to use it.

How has it changed you to know that you're going to become a parent again?
Ha, ha, ha. I had a girl 33 years ago, but in the war. I met him when he was two months old and then I only saw him from time to time, until he was eleven years old, he was exiled. At that time, the family members of the leaders began to kidnap as a pressure, and I am very grateful that Spain accepted their daughter. So, as you'll understand, I couldn't know my parenthood. Neither birth nor how it grows… And now I am waiting for Jhoanna (my partner). I am very emotional and I have a lot of concern: I would like to be a good father, helping my partner in everything he needs, because the most important task is for him.

Methicist tea to soldao

Timochenko, after 40 years of war, has lived in moments of peace closest to death, due to health problems, at three historic moments.

"The first in 2015, in Havana: when we held a general assembly of peace talks, in the middle of the meeting, I was dead. And I was ‘dead’ for about 40 minutes. They gave me electroshocks and the doctors don't know very well how, but I left him, after spending four icy days on a bed. As I started recovering, I had to go back to the meeting because the others didn’t want to go without me.” In 2017 he suffered the second emergency, a few days after the abandonment of weapons. “Stroke. I was paralyzed by half of my body.” The third has been this year, in March. Candidate for the presidency of the FARC at the opening of the elections, he had to withdraw his candidacy: “I had heart surgery because I had the arteries a little closed, but I had to start them again immediately. I smoked three or four packs a day, since then I have left him completely.

When you have had these extreme health problems, we asked you if you have relaxed your commitment to the team and thought about prioritizing personal well-being. “That didn’t become public but in the assembly to create the party I felt the internal struggles, and I didn’t want to get in there. We were going to bring together the 111 members of the management, but 110 people gathered together; I went to Havana to the doctor. I said, ‘Don’t appoint me president, put another one and let me recover for about three months. Then I make myself available to the party for anything.’ The next day I was called saying that I had been appointed president! The breaks that I had in my head were over, ha, ha…“ (He has started singing) ‘You got caught in a slut and now you have to learn...’