Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos is fighting a public relations war with FARC guerrillas who in days will fly to Norway to start negotiations to end five decades of conflict.
Peace depends on the will of the FARC to negotiate, and the ability of the government to provide the terrorists an alternative to armed combat.
The government has done its part.
Since coming to power in 2010, the president has rushed through a new legal framework of transitional justice that will permit integration of demobilised guerrillas into civilian life; offering a route to legitimate political representation through the power of the ballot box.
But the key question is whether the FARC have done enough to show they too are serious about peace.
Those loyal to ex-president Alvaro Uribe suggest not; pointing to the rebels’ press conference held last week in the safe-house of the Cuban capital, Havana, as evidence the FARC are playing a huge confidence trick.
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Archivado en: Colombia, Política | Etiquetado: Alvaro Uribe, Colombia, Colombia-Politics.com, Farc, Havana, Juan Manuel Santos, Kevin Howlett, Mauricio Jaramillo, Peace | 1 comentario
