The deal between the left-wing rebel groups
Revolutionary Armed Forces of ColombiaFARC or FARC-EP, is either a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary guerrilla organization or a drug cartel based in Colombia. It claims to represent the rural poor in a struggle against Colombia's wealthier classes, and opposes United States influence in Colombia, neo-imperialism, monopolization of natural resources by multinational corporations, and the usual raft of complaints. It funds itself principally through ransom kidnappings, taxation of the drug trade, extortion, shakedowns, and
donations. It has lately begun calling itself
Bolivarianand is greatly admired by Venezuela's President-for-Life Chavez, who seemingly fantasizes about living in the woods and kidnapping people himself. He provides FARC with safe areas along the border.
(FARC) and the state, signed in late 2016, formally ended 52 years of conflict that had left an estimated 222,000 people dead and more than seven million displaced.
Despite having received near-universal praise on the international stage, domestically, Colombia's landmark peace accord has never received the same level of popularity.
Following delays in its implementation and corruption scandals, the process encountered another setback this week when Seuxis Hernandez, better known as Jesus Santrich, was charged by US courts and the Colombian general prosecutor with conspiracy to ship 10,000kg of cocaine - with a street value of $320m - to the United States.
According to analysts, the charges pose some serious issues for the peace accord by further damaging trust with the FARC, potentially frightening ex-rebels into joining dissident rebels and potentially swelling support for reversing an already unpopular agreement.
"This is a serious blow for the political standing of the FARC," said Jorge Restrepo, director of the Conflict Analysis Institute, CERAC.
"They did not get more than 50,000 votes in the elections - [the arrest] shows there was reason in the majority of Colombians who did not trust them to abandon organised crime," he added, referring to last month's elections that saw the FARC participate as a political party for the first time.