Colombian government chief negotiator Humberto de la Calle to the peace talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group on Wednesday denied a saying about that officials were negotiating a cut in military forces.

"I categorically affirm that none of that is true. We have not discussed or negotiated, nor are we going to in the future, a reduction in our military and police forces, nor are we going to demilitarize 'rural zones'," said De la Calle at the presidential headquarters in Bogota, the capital of Colombia.

"It is my duty to warn Colombians about false rumors circulating in the media, that aim to create a climate of negative opinion around these talks and scare Colombians over the progress of these talks and their future consequences for the country," he said.

The ongoing talks in Havana, Cuba, since November 2012, were initiated by the government of President Juan Manuel Santos, but opposed by his hardline predecessor Alvaro Uribe, who favored using military might to quash the five-decade insurgency. Enditem

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