The Colombian government and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia completed final revisions to a peace accord between parties on Tuesday, according to a negotiator.
“This is the final accord; it’s the definitive accord,” chief government negotiator Humberto de la Calle told reporters in Bogota on Tuesday. “There’s really no room for more negotiation.”
Legislators will now decide how to go about approving the revised deal between the goverment and Marxist FARC group. Interior Minister Juan Fernando Cristo said the law does not require President Juan Manuel Santos to hold a new referendum, enabling the Congress to approve the 310-page document.
Government officials said they studied at least 500 proposals from the opposition when rewriting the deal. De la Calle said the new proposal addressed 80 percent of those concerns.
Last month, the public voted against the original draft in a plebiscite, in part because it allowed rebels to hold public office and serve punishments outside of prison.
This new deal allows rebels to hold public office, though anyone who confesses to having committed a war crime will be forced to live outside of urban areas for five to eight years.
The 52-year war has resulted in the deaths of 220,000 people and left millions of residents displaced due to the destruction.
The U.S. State Department had assisted in brokering a deal in the South American country. Both parties’ officials have consulted with U.S. officials in Havana, Cuba, throughout the deal-making process.
