|
2013-11-07 Caribbean-Latin America
|
|
Agreement moves Colombia closer to peace
|
BOGOTA, Colombia The government and the FARC rebel group reached a deal Wednesday that would allow rebel commanders to exchange their weapons for a future in politics, an important advance that analysts say leaves little doubt there will be a final peace pact in the months ahead.
| Unfortunately it may be a case of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. FARC was finished; their handful of leaders were on the run and it was nothing more than a drug ring. Now those leaders get another chance to meddle. It's not like they've become Liberal-Democrats... |
With an agreement on political participation for the guerrillas, the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia have made breakthroughs on two of the most difficult points in the framework agenda for negotiations to end 50 years of conflict. In May, the two sides agreed on an ambitious program of land distribution and titling to resolve unrest in the countryside that has long spawned political violence.
There is no going back this process is moving forward, said León Valencia, a former guerrilla who is director of the Peace and Reconciliation Foundation, a think tank that has studied the peace process. They have basically reached an agreement that goes to the heart of negotiations. Everything else is just complementary.
A statement issued by the two sides in Havana, where the talks have been taking place over the past year, was vague about the latest agreement. It said that there would be rights and guarantees for the new movements that emerge from the signing of a final accord.
Analysts who follow the peace talks and have been in contact with negotiators say the FARCs objective is to form a new party and receive posts in the national legislature in exchange for disarming.
| Shouldn't they have to win an election or something to get posts in the legislature? |
But an official in the government of President Juan Manuel Santos said the details of how that will happen will be negotiated after the rebels lay down their weapons. And Colombian judges not the government or the rebels will decide which of the FARCs commanders, many of whom are accused of war crimes, can participate in politics.
Still, the two sides saw the latest development as a breakthrough that would bring peace to a country that has long been plagued by guerrilla groups and illegal paramilitary organizations.
We want this to be a peace with everyone and for everyone, Humberto de la Calle, the governments chief negotiator, told reporters in the Havana convention center where the talks are being held. We have an opportunity, here and now, to agree on the end of the conflict and begin the consolidation of peace. That is the great national longing.
Luciano Marín, a FARC commander better known here by his alias, Iván Márquez, said the pact creates an opening for those who have not felt represented in Colombias political system.
In comments carried by Semana magazine, he said the latest development gives us optimism to advance in debates to sign a peace pact and end the conflict.
The news from Havana was a setback for powerful opponents of the process led by former president Álvaro Uribe, who accuses the Santos government of selling out to the FARC.
Alfredo Rangel, a close ally of Uribe, told Colombian television that the government was setting the stage for an armed peace that is rejected by the vast majority of Colombians. He said he worried that FARC commanders would go straight from the jungles to the legislature, without paying for their crimes, and then work to install a government with close ties to leftist Cuba and Venezuela.
| That certainly seems to be the plan for FARC. A few years back it looked like the large majority of Colombians were with Uribe on this one. We don't need another Nicaragua... |
|
Posted by Steve White 2013-11-07 00:00||
||
Front Page|| [9 views ]
Top
|
|
Posted by Herb Gloluger9960 2013-11-07 23:24||
2013-11-07 23:24||
Front Page
Top
|
|
10:36 Grom the Reflective
10:35 Grom the Reflective
10:31 Procopius2k
10:30 swksvolFF
10:20 swksvolFF
10:17 Frank G
10:14 swksvolFF
10:07 Slinese Snore5667
09:55 Bobby
09:54 DarthVader
09:32 Huputle+Cherelet4131
09:30 Grom the Reflective
09:29 Grom the Reflective
09:24 Huputle+Cherelet4131
09:15 Huputle+Cherelet4131
09:14 Skidmark
09:11 Huputle+Cherelet4131
09:09 Skidmark
09:09 ed in texas
08:58 Huputle+Cherelet4131
08:55 ed in texas
08:51 ed in texas
08:46 ed in texas
08:45 ed in texas
|
