Peace deal

After 52 years of fighting and nearly four years of grinding negotiations, the Colombian Government and the country’s Farc rebel group yesterday declared that they had reached an agreement to end the longest-running armed conflict in the Americas. The two sides made the announcement in Cuba, where negotiations began in 2012. Colombian voters must ratify the accord at the ballot box in a vote, likely to take place in October, that is shaping up as a showdown between the country’s two most prominent political rivals. President Juan Manuel Santos, who has staked his legacy on the peace accord, will be campaigning for Colombians to approve it and former President Alvaro Uribe is leading the drive to sink the deal.