The government is pushing to secure an historic end to hostilities by November, whilst Farc leaders are pushing for a deal palatable to militants back in the jungle.In the midst of it all is a middle-class Dutch woman, who went to Colombia to teach English in the 1990s and ended up a fighter with the Farc.
University educated, attractive and with near flawless Spanish and English, the Farc must hope that including Tanja Nijmeijer in the peace talks will help boost the group's image. Colombia's government tried to veto her involvement.
The insurgency was at its height then, militarily. She learned of the conflict whilst watching local television to improve her Spanish. She began asking questions, and was gradually radicalised by a fellow teacher, who later revealed he was a Farc militant.
The teacher took her to city slums and talked of a fight for "social justice" in a country of deep inequalities.
"I saw the poverty and I was really impressed by that. I started to question the capitalist system, everything around me," she recalls.
The Farc's founders emerged from a Communist commune over-run by the military in 1964; Ms Nijmeijer also cites a short truce in the 1980s, when more than 2,000 Farc-backed candidates for elections were singled-out and assassinated
