That is why every military officer fights - so that there may be peace.

No one has hit the FARC harder than I. But all wars have to end at some point, and that requires a negotiated solution.

Believe me, it is much harder to make peace than war.

Corruption is one of the high priorities of my agenda.

If you go around Colombia or Latin America, without doubt you will find that 80 per cent of the time, you're discussing the past and only 20 per cent about the future.

My ideal - and here, the sky is the limit - is to attract foreign investment via concessions.

I think that we are trying to move towards the First World slowly but surely. But we must do a good job for the people left way behind. That's why extreme poverty, for us, is a priority.

People in the U.K. don't imagine what it is to live in extreme poverty here in Colombia or anywhere in the so-called Third World.

The FARC has given up their arms. They are now a political party. They are now doing politics, which is what a peace process was all about.

I say that building peace is like building a cathedral. You have to have a solid base, and then you do it brick by brick. But the process is irreversible. There's no way back.