Colombia’s new president opposes the 2016 peace deal with the FARC guerrillas. As trust between the government and militants erodes, at least 1,700 former insurgents have returned to armed struggle.
In the most peaceful election in their modern history, Colombians have elected as their next president a conservative who will renegotiate the country’s fragile 2016 accord with the FARC guerrillas.
Conservative congressional reps in Colombia have been stalling votes on key parts of the country’s peace accords through endless petitions and nonstop debate. In short, they’re filibustering.
Two months after signing peace accords with the FARC guerrillas, Colombia is set to start negotiations with the country’s second-largest rebel group, the National Liberation Army.
A week of extreme emotions in Colombia ends with a Nobel Peace Prize for its president. But will it help the country avoid descending back into civil war?
Nobel Prize aside, Colombia continues to choose war over peace and uncertainty over resolution. Is it something ingrained in the national psyche, or the product of a tangled-up political process?
Co-Director, Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention, and Professor of Public Administration, Binghamton University, State University of New York