The president of Colombia on Thursday signed a revised peace deal with FARC, the country’s leading rebel group that has terrorized the country for half a century.
President Juan Manuel Santos and Rodrigo Londono, leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, joined hands to shouts of “Yes we could!” after signing the 310-page peace agreement Thursday morning.
Efforts to reach a peace agreement collapsed two months ago, when Colombian voters rejected it in a referendum. The new pact signed by Santos and Londono will have to be approved by the country’s legislature.
FARC leaders wouldn’t agree to some of the government’s strongest demands, which had included jail sentences for rebel leaders who committed atrocities and stricter limits on how they could participate in politics.
But the agreement does include about four dozen other changes intended to appease critics from both sides. It includes a commitment from the insurgents to hand over assets collected through drug trafficking to help compensate their victims, and a prohibition on foreign magistrates judging crimes by the FARC.
Colombians overwhelmingly oppose the FARC and want to see the government come down hard on it, after 52 years of fighting that displaced millions of people and resulted in more than 220,000 deaths. Opponents of the October referendum had said it was too easy on insurgents who had long perpetrated crimes including kidnapping and drug trafficking.
Santos will next introduce the accord to Congress, which is expected to ratify it, possibly next week. Legislators will then have to pass legislation to implement the agreement, which includes directions for guerrillas to turn over their weapons to United Nations monitors in more than 20 demobilization areas.
