Colombia, rebels reach peace accord

Voters must OK proposal to end 50 years of war

HAVANA — Colombia’s government and its biggest rebel group announced a deal Wednesday evening for ending their country’s half-century guerrilla war, one of the world’s longestrunning armed conflicts.

The government’s accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia must still be ratified by voters in a plebiscite in order to take effect.

But the announcement in Havana of a deal after four years of talks opens the possibility for Colombians to put behind them political bloodshed that has claimed more than 220,000 lives and driven more than 5 million people from their homes.

The accord commits Colombia’s government to carrying out land reform, overhauling its anti-narcotics strategy and greatly expanding the state into traditionally neglected areas of the country.

Negotiations began in November 2012 and were plagued by distrust built up during decades of war propaganda on both sides.

Polls say most Colombians loathe the rebel group known as the FARC and show no hesitation labeling them “narco-terrorists” for their heavy involvement in Colombia’s cocaine trade. Meanwhile, the FARC held onto a Cold War view of Colombia’s political and economic establishment as “oligarchs” at the service of the U.S.

The rebel army was forced to the negotiating table after a decade of heavy battlefield losses that saw a succession of top rebel commanders killed by the U.S.-backed military.

Santos, an unlikely peacemaker given his role as architect of the military offensive, throughout maintained a steady pulse even as he was labeled a traitor by his conservative former allies and suffered a plunge in approval ratings.

The most contentious breakthrough came in September when Santos traveled to Havana to lay out a framework for investigating atrocities, punishing guerrillas for involvement in those abuses and offering compensation to victims.

Opponents of Santos and some human rights groups harshly criticized a key part of that deal: guerrillas who confess their crimes won’t spend any time in prison and will instead be allowed to serve out reduced sentences of no more than eight years helping rebuild communities hit by the conflict.

Another toad to swallow, as Santos calls the concessions he’s had to make, will be the sight of former rebel leaders occupying seats in congress specially reserved for the FARC’s still unnamed political movement. The exact number of such seats was among the last details being hammered out in marathon 18-hour sessions taking place in recent days.

“We haven’t slept but it was worth the effort,” said Colombian Sen. Roy Barreras, speaking to Caracol Radio from Havana.