Colombia and FARC Reach New Peace Agreement
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced that his administration signed a new peace agreement with the left-wing militant group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in Havana on November 12. Colombians had narrowly rejected a previous agreement on October 2 after Santos submitted its approval to a referendum. Santos gave the second round of peace negotiations, which began on October 23, a sense of urgency by citing the approaching end of the cease-fire between Colombia and the FARC on December 31. The Santos administration accepted more than 500 suggestions from opponents of the first agreement in an effort to make the new deal more acceptable. The most contentious parts of the initial agreement were that it allowed FARC fighters who confessed to crimes to avoid jail time and granted the former guerrilla group congressional representation. Colombian ex-President Álvaro Uribe opposed the first deal and deemed it a surrender to the FARC.
Humberto de la Calle, Colombia’s chief negotiator with the FARC, said that the new agreement is intended to make “adjustments and clarifications” while retaining the “convictions” of the previous deal. To that end, the second agreement includes measures stricter than those in the first deal. It requires the FARC to declare its assets as the first step toward compensating its victims, reduces government funding to help transition the militant group into a political party, and declares that only Colombian judges can oversee the trials of FARC rebels.
However, the new deal continues to permit FARC militants to run for public office in an attempt for political reconciliation. In his announcement speech, Santos admitted that government negotiators were “unable to make headway there.” Uribe gave the announcement a measured response, requesting that Santos allow the opposition to review the new agreement and remain open to modifications.
It remains unknown whether Santos will submit the new agreement to another referendum or to the Congress. According to the Wall Street Journal, Carlos Holmes Trujillo, an ally of Uribe, said that if Santos bypassed the people’s opinion, “it would leave Colombia divided.”