Colombia Concludes Peace Deal with FARC

Colombia and FARC revolutionaries signed a peace accord to end 50 years of fighting on September 26, 2016, but, despite Colombia's President Santos winning the Nobel Prize for Peace shortly after a referendum, voters in Colombia decided on October 2 to reject the terms of the accord by a slim margin.  These terms stipulated:

• The Colombian government would grant FARC guerrillas amnesty from their crimes. A major sticking point. Guerrillas would also be guaranteed a minimum wage and seed money to build new communities. They would help the government destroy landmines and the coca crops that once funded their operations.
• FARC would take part in a truth commission similar to the one South Africa formed after apartheid.
• FARC would surrender its guns.
• FARC would become a political party.

Negotiators spent four years forging this plan and, after the referendum, they went back to Havana to try again. A new deal was reached, and, on November 30, 2016, by bypassing voters, President Santos won approval for the revised peace accord from the Colombian Congress. Rebels will not face prison for the war crimes they confess. They will disarm under UN supervision and disperse. Former FARC rebels will be allowed to run for Congressional seats, but not to represent new districts created in former areas of conflict.