ON SEPTEMBER 26th Colombia’s president, Juan Manuel Santos, gleaming in a white shirt, appeared before more than a dozen heads of government and other dignitaries to sign, with a pen fashioned from a bullet casing, an accord to end the country’s 52-year-long war with the FARC rebel army. The FARC’s top commander, Rodrigo “Timochenko” Londoño, equally resplendent, added his name. Less than a week later, on October 2nd, Colombian voters rejected the peace deal in a plebiscite. Mr Santos appeared on television, dark-suited as if in mourning. “I will not give up” on peace, he vowed.
The grim prospect is that, although no one wants it, Colombia could return to war. Mr Santos extended the ceasefire declared by the government in August, but initially only until the end of October. The message is double-sided. The government is still working for peace, but if necessary is prepared to resume hostilities. The short extension is partly designed to put pressure on the FARC. They read the ceasefire decision as an “ultimatum” and ordered their troops, which had begun to move toward demobilisation zones, to “secure positions”. Whether low-level...Continue reading
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