Contours of Coexistence: The Colombia-FARC Peace Accord, 2016

Since 1964, a brutal conflict between the Colombian government, Marxist guerrillas, and landowner-backed mercenaries has devastated Colombia. For all its natural beauty, Colombia is home to assassinations, kidnappings, landmines, child soldiers, and the indiscriminate killing of civilians. Many government administrations have tried in vain to negotiate a peace deal with the guerrillas of the FARC, but they failed time and again. The same pattern seemed set to repeat when President Juan Manuel Santos initiated peace talks with the FARC in 2012, but the negotiators actually managed to remain at the table for five years and craft a peace accord that would dismantle the FARC, reincorporate guerrillas into society, provide justice for victims, and redress the vast inequities of Colombia’s socioeconomic structure. However, when the peace accord was posed to the Colombian people in 2016, it met fierce opposition. Former President Álvaro Uribe launched a “No” Campaign to convince voters to strike down the peace accord, and he succeeded. Among those who voted against the deal, the main reason was that it was too lenient toward demobilized guerrillas. It is now the final months of 2016, and delegates from the government, the FARC, and civil society have been summoned to Havana to renegotiate the peace accord. Will delegates succeed in passing a deal that satisfies the public’s thirst for justice while meeting the lofty demands of FARC guerrillas for political representation and a more equitable society? Or will the delegates’ personal agendas tank the negotiations and plunge Colombia into another era of warfare and mass atrocities?