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posted by cmn32480 on Monday October 24 2016, @05:31AM   Printer-friendly
from the road-to-peace-is-pretty-bumpy dept.

Colombia and FARC Resume Peace Talks

Colombia and FARC have resumed peace talks in Cuba, following the narrow defeat of the previous peace deal in a public referendum. The deal will have to be rewritten... and probably not in FARC's favor:

An amendment to the deal that does not include FARC transitioning to a political movement would be difficult for the leftist movement to stomach. Under the deal, FARC would have been given 10 congressional seats in government, which opponents say is unacceptable. The rebels, Colombia's armed forces and right-wing paramilitaries have all been implicated in crimes committed during the nearly five-decade war, which has claimed at least 220,000 lives and displaced some 8 million people. President Juan Manuel Santos, who won the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month for his efforts, has extended a ceasefire until the end of the year and vowed to reach a new peace deal as soon as possible.

Colombian President Receives Nobel Peace Prize for Rejected Accord with FARC

The World Socialist Web Site reports

[October 7], Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the four years of negotiations to reach a peace accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas. The announcement came five days after Colombians narrowly rejected the accord in a referendum marked by widespread abstention.

As the second Colombian to receive a Nobel prize--after the renowned novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez received the prize for literature in 1982--Santos accepted it "in the name of all Colombians", He also announced on Sunday that the $930,000 reward will be "donated for the reparation of the victims" of the civil war.

This attempt to exploit the prize to promote national unity fell flat, however, in the face of the deep and bitter divisions revealed by the unexpected rejection of the accord in a referendum that saw only a 37 percent turnout and a margin of victory for the "no" camp of just 60,000 votes out of the 13 million ballots cast.

The selection of Santos for the Nobel Peace Prize only underscores the dubious character of this distinction, which has been bestowed on the likes of Barack Obama in the midst of military escalation in Afghanistan and drone assassinations, [as well as] figures ranging from the US war criminal Henry Kissinger to the right-wing Israeli leader and former terrorist Menachem Begin.

As is often the case, the selection of Santos for the prize was driven by definite political and economic interests. The bourgeoisie internationally has a serious stake in the Colombian accord, which it hopes will end the armed conflict, opening up the country to far more intensive penetration by transnational capital. At the same time, it would serve to turn the FARC, the last major guerrilla movement, into a new bourgeois party tasked with containing and diverting the struggles of the Colombian working class.

[...] The 2016 Nobel Peace Prize celebrates this political figure and a "peace accord" that grants virtual impunity for war crimes carried out by the government, the paramilitaries, and the FARC.

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FARC Peace Deal Rejected by Colombians 24 comments

The peace deal negotiated between the Colombian government and FARC rebels has been narrowly rejected by Colombian voters:

Colombians narrowly rejected a peace deal with Marxist guerrillas in a referendum on Sunday, plunging the nation into uncertainty and dashing President Juan Manuel Santos' painstakingly negotiated plan to end the 52-year war. The surprise victory for the "no" camp poured cold water on international joy, from the White House to the Vatican, at what had seemed to be the end of the longest-running conflict in the Americas.

The "no" camp won by 50.21 percent to 49.78 percent. Voter turnout was only 37 percent, perhaps partly owing to torrential rain through the country.

Both sides in the war immediately sought to reassure the world they would try to revive their peace plan. Santos, 65, said a ceasefire already negotiated would remain in place. He vowed to sit down on Monday with the victorious "no" camp to discuss the way forward, and send his chief negotiator back to Cuba to meet with FARC rebel leaders.

Both sides remain committed to peace (for now):

FARC rebels, also known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, released a statement expressing sadness at the vote. "With today's result, we know that our goal as a political movement is even more grand and strong. The FARC maintains the will of peace and reiterates its disposition to only use words as a weapon for constructing the future," the statement said.

Just last week, in a scene generations of Colombians never dreamed of seeing, President Santos and FARC leader Rodrigo Londoño used pens made of recycled bullets to sign a deal ending a 52-year-old war. But now it seems the rebels and the Colombian government, facilitated by international leaders, will have to go back to the drawing board to reimagine a peace that is acceptable to victims of murder, extortion and kidnapping. It is largely unclear what the path forward looks like, as rebel fighters were supposed to give up their weapons and rejoin society. Santos, who has said before there is no "plan B" if the deal fails, said a ceasefire will remain in place and negotiations will continue in Havana, Cuba.

[more...]

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 24 2016, @08:59AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 24 2016, @08:59AM (#418076)

    Lol.

  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 24 2016, @09:33AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 24 2016, @09:33AM (#418080)

    There may be some less then honorable things in this man's career or even in the peace deal.
    But this man has at least achieved something many previous peace price winners have not; ceased ongoing hostilities. While a long lasting ceasefire is not yet full pledged peace, it's a lot better than what's currently happening in many parts of the world, and this man's appears to be responsible for that. Good job!

    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by purple_cobra on Monday October 24 2016, @10:05AM

      by purple_cobra (1435) on Monday October 24 2016, @10:05AM (#418088)

      I have to agree. There's enough death in the world already, so actively trying to stop more happening is a laudable act. While a lot of people inside and outside of Colombia won't agree with an amnesty for past crimes, it's the lesser of two evils if not having that amnesty means more people die as a result of conflict in the future.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 24 2016, @11:30AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 24 2016, @11:30AM (#418101)

      How come Santos isn't sharing the Nobel prize with the FARK leader?

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by barrahome on Monday October 24 2016, @10:25AM

    by barrahome (3580) on Monday October 24 2016, @10:25AM (#418091) Journal

    it's COLOMBIA not COLUMBIA.

    • (Score: 2) by Anne Nonymous on Monday October 24 2016, @01:52PM

      by Anne Nonymous (712) on Monday October 24 2016, @01:52PM (#418139)

      Actually it's called FARC House Records Club now, but you can still get 7 albums for $5.99 and two more at half price.

  • (Score: 2) by RamiK on Monday October 24 2016, @04:42PM

    by RamiK (1813) on Monday October 24 2016, @04:42PM (#418206)

    The 10 congressional seats (out of 102 total) were a compromise. In the 37% turn-out vote, half were definitely pro-FARC while the other half had a few FARC extremists that don't want to sign a peace treaty without going into early elections.

    The coalition party wanted to de-revolutionize PARC by giving them just enough power to look bad to voters but not enough to do anything.

    Now, the cease-fire will drag-on to the end-of-term in which those 10 seats will be taken off the table leaving a treaty that looks worse for FARC, but in reality, leaves them with more credibility (and seats) in the next term.

    In fact, all it would take is a few leaks implicating the government in war-crimes too for FARC to suddenly look reasonable.

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    compiling...
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 24 2016, @06:31PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 24 2016, @06:31PM (#418235)

      de-revolutionize PARC

      Xerox: better copiers, plz!

      PARC: This is a computer that one person uses, we call it a personal computer. When you type on it, what you see is what you get. This way of working, we call a graphical user interface. The printer is like a copier, but with a laser. We connect these together with what we call a local area network.

      Xerox: better copiers, plz!

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday October 24 2016, @08:59PM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday October 24 2016, @08:59PM (#418284) Journal

      In the 37% turn-out vote, half were definitely pro-FARC while the other half had a few FARC extremists that don't want to sign a peace treaty without going into early elections.

      Pro-peace is not pro-FARC.

      • (Score: 2) by RamiK on Monday October 24 2016, @10:19PM

        by RamiK (1813) on Monday October 24 2016, @10:19PM (#418304)

        I'm not buying people are passionate enough about peace to leave bed, hand over the other cheek and vote to give congressional seats and live next to people they consider enemies and terrorists.

        --
        compiling...
        • (Score: 3, Interesting) by PartTimeZombie on Monday October 24 2016, @10:42PM

          by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Monday October 24 2016, @10:42PM (#418309)

          I'm not buying people are passionate enough about peace to leave bed, hand over the other cheek...

          The main opposition to peace in Colombia is the right, the ruling party, and its former president, Álvaro Uribe who has been leading the calls to reject the peace plan.
          He has serious ties to right wing paramilitary groups who are also accused of human rights abuses.
          This is his Wikipedia page. [wikipedia.org] Note the strong ties to the US, including support for the "War on Terror".
          In a Latin American context this usually means CIA money somewhere, which he will not want to come out so better (for him) to continue fighting.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 25 2016, @07:46PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 25 2016, @07:46PM (#418691)

            Considering "we hate the US" has often been expressed by people blowing themselves up, I guess a pro-peace vote to express the same sentiment is plausible.