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Judi Lynn

(160,450 posts) Thu Dec 1, 2016, 02:24 AM Dec 2016

Colombia peace deal passed by Congress, ending 52-year war

Source: Colombia Reports

written by Reuters December 1, 2016

Colombias Congress approved a new peace deal with FARC rebels late on Wednesday, despite objections from former President and now Senator Alvaro Uribe, who said it was still too lenient on the insurgents who have battled the government for 52 years.

The agreement was approved in the lower house by 130-0, a day after the Senate ratified it 75-0. Lawmakers from Uribes Democratic Center party left the floors of both houses in protest just before voting began.

The ratification and signing last week begins a six-month countdown for the 7,000-strong FARC, which started as a rebellion fighting rural poverty, to abandon weapons and form a political party.

. . .

Santos, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in October for his peace efforts, wants to get the deal implemented as quickly as possible to maintain a fragile ceasefire.

Read more: http://colombiareports.com/colombian-peace-deal-passed-congress-ending-52-year-war/

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Colombia peace deal passed by Congress, ending 52-year war (Original Post) Judi Lynn Dec 2016 OP

Time: Colombias Congress Ratifies a New Peace Deal with Rebels Judi Lynn Dec 2016 #1

Judi Lynn

(160,450 posts)

1. Time: Colombias Congress Ratifies a New Peace Deal with Rebels

Reply to Judi Lynn (Original post)

Thu Dec 1, 2016, 03:08 AM

Dec 2016

Colombia’s Congress Ratifies a New Peace Deal with Rebels

Joshua Goodman / AP
12:22 AM ET

The ratification will set in motion the process in which the FARC's 8,000-plus guerrillas will turn over their weapons to United Nations monitors

(BOGOTA) — After five decades of war, more than four years of negotiations and two signing ceremonies, Colombia’s congress late Wednesday formally ratified a peace agreement allowing leftist rebels to enter politics.

The 310-page revised accord was approved unanimously by the lower house, which voted a day after the Senate approved the same text 75-0 following a protest walkout by the opposition led by former President Alvaro Uribe.

The accord introduces some 50 changes intended to assuage critics who led a campaign that saw Colombians narrowly reject the original accord in a referendum last month. President Juan Manuel Santos has said there won’t be a second referendum.

More:
http://time.com/4587056/colombias-congress-ratifies-a-new-peace-deal-with-rebels/

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