Ex government official admits meeting with FARC members

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SANTIAGO.- Hugo Guzmán, a former government official who resigned from La Moneda yesterday after being accused of having ties to the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC), has admitted to meeting with members of the guerrilla force on several occasions, but has said that the meetings were always held in the presence of the United Nations and other international government officials.

Guzman's resignation was justified as wanting to protect President Michelle Bachelet from being unjustifiably attacked by the Alianza.

"On many of the occasions that I met with members of the FARC, officials from the United Nations and other governments were there, I am even receiving emails from my colleagues, from Channel 11 in Mexico, saying that hopefully the senator (Alberto Espina) won't start accusing them".

Guzmán assured that both Espina and the right-wing still do not "get" the current situation in the region and maintained that they continue to live in a separate Latin American reality.