A former head of a feared Colombian militia that was linked to more than 5,000 murders and a spate of disappearances has been arrested in Panama, Colombian police said Friday.

Colombian authorities have arrested 32 local politicians for alleged ties to right-wing paramilitary groups that fueled the country's 50-year conflict before being disbanded a decade ago, prosecutors said Thursday.

Current and former mayors, ex-town councilors, civic leaders and former Senate candidates were among those arrested in the region of Uraba in the violence-torn country's northwest.

The head of Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar's hitmen, a confessed murderer nicknamed "Popeye," was released from prison Tuesday after helping prosecutors convict a former justice minister.

Talks to end Colombia's five-decade conflict entered what the government called a "decisive phase" Friday as army officers and FARC rebels began work on the terms of an eventual ceasefire.

The creation of the "subcommission" to propose the framework for an eventual ceasefire and disarmament marks the first time active combatants from both sides have come together around the same table during the nearly two-year-old peace negotiations.

Victims of the decades-old conflict pitting FARC rebels against government forces testified at peace talks Saturday, pushing for "truth" to form the foundation of any accord.

The 12 victims, some of whom came face-to-face with representatives of the perpetrators for the first time, testified during a closed-door session that lasted nearly nine hours.

Colombian police captured a suspected FARC rebel accused of participating in the kidnapping of three Americans held hostage from 2003 to 2008, authorities said Saturday.

Duverney Ospina, also known as "Giovanny," allegedly joined the FARC a decade ago and was the confidante of Hernan Velasquez, or "El Paisa," a leader within the leftist rebel group, a police statement said.

Peace talks between the Colombian government and leftist guerrilla group FARC resumed Tuesday, focused on the delicate topic of dealing with the 5.3 million victims of the 50-year-old conflict.

Reparations for victims is one of the most sensitive items on the six-point agenda for the talks in Havana, since each side blames the other for violence that has killed 220,000 people and caused more than five million others to flee their homes.

Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos warned Tuesday the leftist FARC rebels could cause a breakdown of peace talks after a bombing of an electric tower left 450,000 people without power.

The government has been in talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia since November 2012, in a push to end Latin America's longest running armed conflict. The FARC, founded in 1964, boasts about 8,000 fighters.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday left on a five-nation tour of Latin America and the Caribbean that will reportedly see a major Japanese bank extend a $500 million oil exploration loan to Brazil.

The visit comes as Chinese President Xi Jinping wrapped up a nine-day Latin American tour, as the Asian powers eye the region's fast-growing economies and vast natural resources.

The Colombian army killed at least 13 leftist guerrillas early Wednesday in two separate engagements, Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon said.

Eight ELN guerrillas were killed in an operation in the eastern province of Arauca and at least five fighters from the FARC guerrilla group were killed in the central province of Meta, said Pinzon, labeling the rebels "terrorists."