LATAM POLITICS TODAY-Colombia's ex-FARC leaders face up to 8-year sentences for kidnappings

The latest in Latin American politics today:

Colombia's ex-FARC leaders face up to eight-year sentences for kidnappings BOGOTA - Colombia's transitional justice tribunal recommended sentencing seven former FARC guerilla commanders to five to eight years for kidnappings and similar crimes during the country's decades-long armed conflict.

The tribunal gave their recommendation to a court that will decide whether to include detention outside prisons and reparations to victims, such as removing landmines, searching for missing people and environmental restoration. The tribunal, known as the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), was created to prosecute former FARC members and military leaders for alleged war crimes after a 2016 peace deal to end a nearly six-decade armed conflict that left at least 450,000 dead between 1985 and 2018.

Brazil's Lula to prioritize tax reform early in his govt, aide says SAO PAULO - Brazil's President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will give "full priority" to kicking off a tax reform early in his administration, close aide and former Sao Paulo Mayor Fernando Haddad said on Friday.

Haddad, who has recently emerged as the front-runner to be finance minister, also said at an event hosted by banking lobby Febraban that Lula would look into quickly resuming trade agreements that have been "sitting on the shelf," including Mercosur's deal with the European Union. Leftist Lula will take office from President Jair Bolsonaro on Jan. 1.

Biden to visit Mexico in early January, Mexican president says MEXICO CITY- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Friday U.S. President Joe Biden will visit Mexico in early January as part of a North American leaders summit previously planned for December.

Lopez Obrador announced the visit at a news conference as his government seeks to work through a major spat over Mexican energy policy with the United States and Canada. The Mexican leader suggested the visit would take place on Jan. 9-10, though he also mentioned earlier dates. (Compiled by Steven Grattan; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)