A new peace agreement was signed by Colombian government negotiator Humberto de La Calle with rebel representative Ivan Marquez in a landmark move aimed at ending a 52-year-long conflict that has claimed more than 2,20,000 lives and driven almost 8 million people from their homes in the South American country. The latest deal aims to address some of the concerns of the original accord’s opponents, who said the deal was too lenient on a leftist rebel group that had kidnapped and committed war crimes.
“The new deal is an opportunity to clear up doubts, but above all to unite us,” said Mr. La Calle. He described the text of the modified accord as “much better” than the previous one, but didn’t say if or how it would be submitted again to voters or to congress.
Earlier deal a setback
President Juan Manuel Santos and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia inked an initial peace deal on September 26 amid international fanfare after more than four years of negotiations. But voters rejected it on October 2 by just 55,000 votes, dealing a stunning setback to Mr. Santos who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end Colombia’s conflict.
Mr. Santos immediately began looking for ways to rescue the deal and the sides extended a ceasefire until December 31 to get the modified deal done. The rebels insisted they wouldn’t go back to the drawing board and throw out years of arduous negotiations with the government.
“The meetings with the FARC delegation were intense,” said Mr. La Calle. “We worked 15 days and nights to reach this new agreement.”
Some modifications
Mr. La Calle said some modifications made were related to justice, punishment for combatants accused of war crimes and reparations for the conflict’s victims. He said negotiators had worked out the details of how and where those responsible for crimes would serve their sentences, addressing complaints by opponents that rebels accused of atrocities would not be imprisoned but submitted to “alternative punishments.”
Other modifications include requiring the rebels to present an inventory of acquired money and holdings, and the provision of safeguards for private owners and property during reforms carried out in the countryside.
Cases of conflict participants accused of drug trafficking would be dealt with under Colombia’s penal code and be heard by high courts.
In a televised address on Saturday night, Mr. Santos said he had instructed Mr. La Calle and the negotiating team to return to Bogota to explain the details of the new accord to the “no” campaign led by conservative former President Alvaro Uribe.
No agreement on this
Mr. Santos said that an issue where negotiators did not achieve advances was on the insistence by opponents of the peace deal that guerrilla leaders not be allowed to run for elected office.
“We won’t have assigned legislative seats. To the contrary, they will have to participate in elections. Nor will they have positions in government, as has occurred in other cases. But yes they can be elected,” he said.
Mr. Marquez said “the implementation of the accord is all that remains for the construction of the bases for peace in Colombia.”
Kerry congratulates Colombians
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry congratulated Colombians, including Mr. Santos and those from the “no” campaign, for reaching the new peace deal.
“After 52 years of war, no peace agreement can satisfy everyone in every detail. But this agreement constitutes an important step forward on Colombia’s path to a just and durable peace. The United States, in coordination with the government of Colombia, will continue to support full implementation of the final peace agreement,” he said in a statement.
Following a meeting with Mr. Santos, Mr. Uribe read a statement to reporters saying he had asked that the “texts to be announced from Havana” not be official until they had been reviewed.
Stiffer penalties for rebels sought
Mr. Uribe and his supporters had demanded stiffer penalties for rebels who committed war crimes and criticised the promise of a political role for the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia — Ejercito del Pueblo in Spanish) or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia — People’s Army, a 7,000-strong peasant army that is Latin America’s last remaining major insurgency. They didn’t like that under the old deal guerrilla leaders involved in crimes against humanity would be spared jail time and allowed to enter political life.
Simultaneously, Colombia’s government is seeking to hold peace talks with the country’s second-biggest rebel group. But Mr. Santos wants the National Liberation Army, known by its Spanish initials ELN, to first free a former congressman it has held captive for six months before holding negotiations.
The ELN is far smaller than the FARC and was founded in the same year, 1964. Inspired by the Cuban revolution, it is ideologically more doctrinaire and recalcitrant than the FARC. It has fewer than 2,000 fighters, making it less than one-third the size of the FARC.
