The civil war in Colombia has gone on for five decades — long enough that people who are fighting today had parents and grandparents involved in the struggle. Between the actions of the government, the communist Farc guerrillas, and right wing militias, over 260,000 people have died while Colombia’s stability has been roiled by kidnappings, terrorism, and the drugs that provided funds to keep the fire burning.
In 2010, President Juan Manuel Santos was elected on a pledge to end the conflict, and since then he has worked to negotiate an end to the war. Just days ago, it seemed that the war was finally over. Santos signed a treaty under which the rebels would lay down their arms and form a political party in exchange for amnesty for most past crimes involved with the conflict.
However, the treaty between the Farc and the government needed to be ratified, and there was opposition from the political party led by former President Alvaro Uribe who wanted the Farc rebels punished. And now it seems that the treaty has failed.
With votes in from more than 99% of polling stations counted, 50.2% opposed the accord while 49.8% supported it - a difference of less than 63,000 votes out of 13 million ballots.
The surprise result means the peace process is now shrouded by uncertainty.
It is also a major setback to President Juan Manuel Santos …
If he sticks to his word about there being no plan B, the bilateral ceasefire will be lifted and the war will resume, our correspondent says.
Uribe has called for the government to return to the negotiating table and require that some Farc leaders face jail while others receive a lifetime ban from public office. However, it’s unclear if the Farc will agree to this — knowing that they are negotiating to bring harsher penalties to bear on their own side. The Farc is already deeply unpopular, and it was unclear if their re-engineering into a political party would have been successful.
Many had hoped this would be a day of celebration to mark the beginning of peace,
“The war is over,” declared Humberto de la Calle, chief government negotiator, after signing the deal in Havana, where talks have been held since November 2012. “It is the time to give peace a chance.
Instead Colombia is facing a moment of stark uncertainty.