U.S. Vice President Joe Biden pledged to support Colombia's peace process with Marxist rebels during a visit here Wednesday, providing a boost to newly re-elected President Juan Manuel Santos, who has made the plan the focus of his presidency. Following a meeting with Mr. Santos at the presidential palace in Bogota, Mr. Biden said the U.S. will stand behind Colombia as it hammers out the final points in a peace accord with the Marxist rebel group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. The peace talks, under way for 19 months in Havana, were the central plank in Mr. Santos's re-election campaign before he won Sunday's elections. "Just as the United States supported Colombian leaders on the battlefield, we fully support them at the negotiating table so that they can finish this 50-year-old conflict," said Mr. Biden, according to a statement following the meeting, which was also attended by senior Colombian cabinet ministers, including Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon.
