After four years of dialogue, the Colombian government and the FARC rebel group have signed a historic peace accord, putting an end to more than five decades of conflict. Once completed, there will be an October 2 plebiscite referendum to allow Colombians to accept or reject the agreements tabled in the accords from Havana. Inspired by the Cuban revolution, the fearsome Marxist Farc, the Spanish acronym for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, had originally sought a wholesale redistribution of wealth throughout Colombia.
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The agency paid tribute to the key role of the Catholic Church in Colombia: both as a mediator between the two sides during the negotiations and in a new role of helping people understand the implications of this peace accord and promoting reconciliation.
Many city dwellers, living far from the remote rural and jungle areas where the conflict has been played out, are ambivalent towards peace talks and are more concerned about jobs, good education and healthcare and rising inflation. “We don’t want any more of our youth to be cannon fodder in an absurd and painful war”.
Colombians celebrated the historic agreement even while expressing doubts about whether the guerrillas they’ve grown to loathe will honor their commitments to lay down their weapons, confess human rights abuses and help eradicate illegal coca crops that helped fuel Colombia’s conflict after insurgencies elsewhere in Latin America were defeated.
“It is in this spirit that I stood alongside President Santos earlier this year and announced a new chapter in our relationship, Peace Colombia, which will provide a framework to reinforce security gains, reintegrate former combatants into society and extend opportunity and the rule of law”.
“Just as the United States has been Colombia’s partner in a time of war, we will be Colombia’s partner in waging peace”, Obama said on Thursday.
But peace, an idea once thought impossible, is within reach.
The brutal conflict has killed more than 220,000 people and displaced millions.
Many Colombians strongly believe the rebels should face the justice system for crimes they have committed.
The peace deal commits Colombia’s government to carrying out aggressive land reforms, reorient its anti-narcotics strategy, allow the FARC to become a legitimate political party and protect demobilized rebels and leftist activists who have traditionally been targeted by right-wing paramilitary groups.
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Rallying against that approval is Santos’ predecessor, former President Álvaro Uribe, whose term ended in 2010 with the FARC diminished.
