After almost four years of negotiations in Cuba, the two sides announced a final deal Wednesday, which President Juan Manuel Santos said would be put to a decisive referendum on October 2.
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But as the chief negotiator addressed his fellow citizens during the live transmission from Havana, after presenting the Final Accord reached with FARC, Colombians celebrated, for many have never enjoyed a full day of peace with FARC in their lifetimes.
Over the past few days, the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have been discussing a range of unresolved topics, and worked late into the night Tuesday to draft a joint statement, sources from the two delegations told AFP in Havana. It has left more than 200,000 people dead and millions more displaced. The accord will end the longest armed conflict in the Western Hemisphere.
President Obama spoke by phone Wednesday with Santos, congratulating him, according to a White House statement. “I’m so happy – I can die in peace”, crying as she spoke. Today marks the end of suffering and pain, the end of the tragedy of war.
-Aug. 24, 2016: Santos’ government and FARC announce peace accord.
But in recent years critics allege the FARC’s estimated 7,000 soldiers had become a narco-terrorist force, reaping millions of dollars from cocaine shipments to the United States.
He vowed that there would be no impunity for those responsible for the worst crimes, either in the FARC or in Colombia’s armed forces. The resulting accord will allow FARC fighters to lay down their weapons and form a left-wing political party that will receive government protection.
The next step is up to the Colombian people: President Juan Manuel Santos says he’ll be holding a referendum on October 2, with a yes-or-no vote on the agreement.
“Now that the negotiations have concluded, an equally determined and exemplary effort will be required to implement the agreements”, Mr. Ban underscored in the statement, calling upon the global community to lend its full support to Colombia at this new and critical stage of the peace process.
Negotiations began in November 2012 and were plagued by distrust built up during decades of dehumanizing war propaganda on both sides.
The conflict began with the founding of FARC in 1964, at a time when leftist guerrilla armies were fighting to sow revolution throughout Latin America.
“We are celebrating this news… although we still face many challenges before we can say Colombia is a country at peace”, he said. “We need understanding, altruism, tenacity and patience”, affirmed De La Calle. “The guns will not remain in the hands of the FARC”. Exploratory talks have been underway but no agreement has been reached on a final agenda for peace dialogues.
The bearded, bespectacled FARC leader’s real name is Rodrigo Londono, but he is better known by his noms de guerre Timoleon Jimenez and Timochenko.
“I know what is coming will be hard, but together we can cope”.
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The following year, he wrote to Santos proposing fresh peace negotiations after efforts by previous leaders had failed.
