Breakthrough in Colombia peace talks opposed by far right, applauded by everyone else.
| Autor | Gaudin, Andres |
Colombia is divided into two, though far from equally sized, camps regarding ongoing peace talks between the government and guerilla leaders. While a large majority supports the process, a small but powerful far-right sector is doing all it can to ensure that the violence, which has as already plagued the country for half a century, continues.
Hoping to put an end to the lengthy internal war, officials representing the government of President Juan Manuel Santos agreed, in November 2012, to begin talks with representatives of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) guerilla army (NotiSur, Dec. 14, 2012). The process was opposed from the start by the pro-war sector, led by ex-President Alvaro Uribe (2002-2010), which launched a campaign aimed primarily at discrediting President Santos. The campaign presented Santos, who came into office in 2010 after serving as Uribe's defense minister, as a "traitor" who "protects criminals" and "degrades the military" by giving the rebels equal standing in the peace talks.
Last month, on Nov. 6, the government and guerillas announced a deal by which the FARC would demobilize and be granted status as an official political entity and yet be allowed--at least for now--to keep their weapons. As the talks progress toward what the two sides are hoping will be a definitive peace accord, the guerillas would eventually be expected to disarm.
The general public, according to recent polls, is enthusiastic about the breakthrough. Two polls by the Observatorio de la Democracia, operated out of the private Universidad de los Andes, showed an increase in the percentage of Colombians supporting the negotiations. One of surveys, released on Nov. 25, estimated support for the talks at 67%.
The numbers seem to have little influence on the uribismo sector and its allies--a group that includes Santos' defense minister as well as the head of the government mission sent to Cuba to conduct the peace negotiations--who are doing everything in their power to prevent the talks form advancing.
Dubious accusations
The sector's latest push to derail the process began on Nov. 13, when Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon called a press conference and dropped a "bombshell" revelation. Pinzon, claiming he has just come from a meeting with Uribe, announced that he had assigned the ex-president a special security contingent of some 300 soldiers to protect him from a just-discovered FARC assassination plot. Citing government...
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