Monday, October 03, 2016

Colombia's endangered peace deal

Colombian voters on Sunday in a very close vote rejected the deal negotiated by the Colombian government with the FARC guerrillas to put an end to the major part of the civil war that has dragged on for over 50 years:

Colombia dijo “No” al acuerdo de paz con las Farc El Espectador 02.10.2016
Colombia referendum: Voters reject Farc peace deal BBC News 10/03/2016
Sibylla Brodzinsky, Colombia’s Brexit moment as politicians misjudge popular anger at Farc amnesty Guardian 10/03/2016
Sibylla Brodzinsky, Colombia and Farc scramble to rescue peace deal amid worries of return to war Guardian 10/03/2016
Katalina Vásquez Guzmán, En Colombia rechazaron los acuerdos de paz Página/12 04.10.2016
Jim Wyss, Questions swirl around Colombian peace deal after voter rejection Miami Herald 10/03/2016

Why did Colombian voters reject the FARC peace deal? PBS Newshour 10/03/2016:



The PBS Newhour segment includes these quotes from two of the current major protagonists of the peace deal:

PRESIDENT JUAN MANUEL SANTOS, Colombia (through translator): I call on those who decided to or not to support the agreement to end the conflict with the FARC. Now we are all together, going to decide between the path that we should take so that peace is possible. I will not give up.

TIMOCHENKO, FARC Commander (through translator): The FARC maintains its willingness for peace and reiterates its position to use only words as weapons to work towards the future. The Colombian people who dream of peace, you can count on us. Peace will win out.
The reactionary former President Álvaro Uribe was the leader of the No campaign. He appears now to be mealy-mouthing about wanting peace to continue. His Democratic Center party is undertaking new political manuevers, presumably to sabotage the possibility of a new peace agreement: Centro Democrático iniciará diálogos con sectores que apoyaron el 'No' El Tiempo 03.10.2016.

President Santos, for his part, is seeking to reduce the opposition's opposition to a peace deal. Santos is pushing ahead in the effort to get a new peace agreement or to preserve the current one in some form.

This 3 1/2 hour Spanish-language video from El Espectador recounts the history of the peace nogotiations, Gobierno y Farc firman acuerdo de paz para poner fin a 52 años de conflicto 6.09.2016:



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