* Three previous peace processes failed 
 
 * Government wants agreement in matter of months 
 
 * FARC weakened by U.S-backed offensive 
 
 By Jeff Franks 
 
 HAVANA, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Colombia and the Marxist FARC rebels will sit down in Havana on Monday for their first peace talks in 10 years in the latest attempt to end Latin America's longest-running insurgency. 
 
 The conflict has dragged on for nearly half a century, taken tens of thousands of lives, displaced millions of people and proven intractable in three previous peace processes. 
 
 But both the Colombian government and the FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, have expressed optimism that this time might be different. 
 
 Government and FARC negotiators will meet in Havana's main convention center in a part of town called Cubanacan, which is lined with palatial homes that once belonged to the elite, virtually all of whom fled Cuba after the 1959 revolution. It is now home mostly to foreign diplomats. 
 
 Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos wants an agreement within nine months, but the two sides face plenty of thorny issues in their five-point agenda. It will begin with rural development, then move on to include such topics as the political and legal future of the rebels, a definitive end to the conflict, the problem of drug trafficking and compensation for war victims. 
 
 "We hope, as also hope the majority of Colombians, that the FARC shows that they think this is the moment for the force of ideas and not the force of bullets," lead government negotiator Humberto de la Calle said as he left Bogota for Havana on Sunday. 
 
 The conflict dates back to 1964 when the FARC was formed as a communist agrarian movement intent on overturning Colombia's long history of social inequality. 
 
 The group has been weakened by a U.S.-backed military offensive begun in 2002 that reduced its numbers to about 8,000 and forced them into remote mountain and jungle strongholds. 
 
 But the rebels still have the strength to launch attacks that Santos wants ended so the country can grow its economy, which has been boosted in recent years by oil and mining operations, much of it in areas where the FARC has a strong presence. 
 
 The FARC has sustained itself by cocaine trafficking, kidnapping, ransom and "war taxes" in territory it controls. 
 
 Its leaders deny involvement in the drug trade and renounced kidnappings earlier this year, but the United States and European Union consider the group a terrorist organization. 
 
 Ivan Marquez, a member of the FARC's secretariat, will lead a delegation of about 30 people at the talks, which were formally begun last month in Norway. 
 
 Norway is a guarantor of the process, along with Cuba. 
 
 Officials want the talks held in the strictest possible secrecy, which is likely the reason they are in Cuba, where the government is expert at keeping information close to the vest and the press at bay. 
 
 Venezuela and Chile also will have representatives at the talks. (Additional reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta in Bogota.; Editing by Christopher Wilson) ||||| Story highlights FARC commander Ivan Marquez calls on the Colombian government to join the cease-fire 
 
 Colombia's FARC rebels announce one-sided truce as goodwill gesture 
 
 FARC is taking part in peace talks with Colombia's government 
 
 Bogota has previously rejected any truces before a peace deal 
 
 Colombia's top rebel group, FARC, announced Monday it will temporarily halt its decades-old battle against government forces starting at midnight as a goodwill gesture amid peace talks with the Colombia government. 
 
 FARC commander Ivan Marquez announced the unilateral cease-fire and called on the the Colombian government to do the same as he arrived for peace talks at Cuba's Convention Palace in Havana Monday. 
 
 "Heeding the overwhelming demand for peace from diverse sectors of the country, the FARC secretariat orders guerrilla units across the country to cease military operations and acts of sabotage," Marquez said 
 
 The rebel cease-fire is scheduled to start Monday night and last until January 20, the rebel group said. It's unlikely the Colombian government will take part in the two-month truce: Bogota has said previously that it will not consider a cease-fire until after a final agreement is reached. 
 
 FARC had signaled that it would pursue a cease-fire, even before peace talks, now being held in Havana, began in mid-October in Norway . Critics of the move believe it's just an attempt by the rebel group to rebuild its forces. 
 
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 The leftist FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, has been at war with the government since the 1960s, making it the longest-running insurgency in Latin America. 
 
 The U.S. State Department, which has listed FARC as a terror group, posted a $5 million reward for the capture of Marquez, whose real name is Luciano Marin Arango. 
 
 There have been sporadic attempts at peace since the 1980s. The last attempt fell apart in 2002. Then-President Andres Pastrana ceded an area the size of Switzerland to the guerrilla group but ended negotiations after rebels launched a series of attacks across the country in an apparent bid to strengthen their position. 
 
 But this time, both sides say, they have a more ambitious agenda. 
 
 "The end of the armed conflict is the precursor to peace. To achieve it, we have to go deep into the transformation of society," said Humberto de la Calle, a representative for the Colombian government. 
 
 The end of hostilities -- the kidnappings and bombings by the FARC and military operations by the government -- will not usher in peace without a true transformation within the country, he said. 
 
 Ivan Marquez, a FARC representative, agreed. 
 
 "We are not the guerrillas that some media make us out to be," he said. "We come to the table with proposals and projects to achieve a definitive peace, a peace that implies a demilitarization of the state and radical socioeconomic reforms that are the foundation of democracy, justice and freedom." 
 
 The FARC continues to carry out kidnappings and attack security forces, though it has been severely weakened in recent years. Two days after peace talks began in Norway, an apparent FARC rebel attack killed five Colombian soldiers 
 
 A large distance remains between the sides. 
 
 While the Colombian government has said that the FARC could continue to advocate for its positions as a political force, it does not want to negotiate all the group's demands during the peace talks. 
 
 "This is about creating an agenda for the end of the conflict that allows the FARC to put forth its ideas unaccompanied by weapons, and with guarantees for its transformation to an unarmed political force," de la Calle said.
– FARC declared a unilateral ceasefire in its ongoing war against the Colombian government as a sign of goodwill ahead of the peace talks that begin today in Cuba. The Marxist rebels have pledged to stop all military operations until Jan. 20, CNN reports. The government hasn't said if it will follow suit, but CNN thinks that's unlikely. And critics say the ceasefire masks the rebels' true intent: to bulk up their forces, which have been whittled down to about 8,000 over the last decade. The two sides will meet today in Havana to talk peace for the first time in 10 years. Topics on the table will include payments for war victims, the political and legal fate of the rebels, and drug trafficking, Reuters reports