I'm living in Colombia, and my perception is most people want the agreement rejected and the President impeached.
There's going to be a referendum on the agreement, and in spite of the government being heavily campaigning for it, odds are voters will side against it.
If they don't I'm out of here. This will become Venezuela 2.0.
I am also Colombian and I would honestly recommend you and every other Colombian out there to read the peace terms before taking a stand. Either if you are voting yes or no. I know 297 pages sound like a lot, but the terms are written in an easy to follow language and are worth the reading.
Doozy admits the truth you won't see in the US corporate media. The Colombian bourgeoisie does not want peace. It's why they murdered Gaitán. It's why when the left unilaterally put down the gun in the mid 1980s and ran for office, they had right wing death squads, the AUC etc. kill off the candidates, campaign workers etc.
They want to run things with the army, with the US army and billions coming in from Plan Colombia etc. They don't want to let people vote or campaign, they'd prefer the FARC control a few departments in the south and they rule by force in the rest of the country.
Thanks for making things clear. You don't see this kind of clarity in the US, where liberals say FARC wants violence and other nonsense.
Actually the peace process of the M19/UP of the 1980s is a chilling precedent of what will happen in Colombia if this agreement goes on: The government may grant immunity to the FARC, but their victims will not forget nor forgive.
Peace with impunity will mean more war, as the victims of the kidnapping, racketeering and murdering (or their surviving relatives) will want their revenge, just as they did after the government forgave M19's crimes.
In the (unlikely) case this agreement is approved, it wouldn't surprise me if it leads to a coup. And that's a rare thing in Colombia, one of the oldest democracies in the world and a country where the last coup attempt took place in the 19th century.
Have you heard of Rojas Pinilla? He led the last successful military coup in 1953.(not 19th century like you implied) If not I'm sure you are at least aware of his grandson Samuel Moreno and his infamous "carrusel de las contrataciones"
You come across as one of those well-to-do Colombians who had the privilege of avoiding the draft through the purchase of a libreta militar, am I right? You don't want this war to end but you sure as heck won't risk your own neck to fight against the enemy that you so viciously despise. Let other Colombians from less affluent families keep fighting your war while you get your passport and your VISA ready to jump ship if things get a little too hairy for you.
Actually we just had a major of the capital (Bogota) of the country wich was part of M19 and he is still alive, so I'm not sure which revenge you talk about in that case.
I'm living in Colombia as well, and the fear of the people is mostly about impunity not about becoming Venezuela 2.0. The USA gov doesn't fear another Venezuela, that's why they support this agreement.
The fear mongering as been done by a self-proclaimed enemy of the current president, the ex-president Alvaro Uribe. Wich has been involved in many paramilitary scandals but somehow he is still free (despite many of his close friends being not)
By the way deaths by war have been decreased in a 95% since the first agreements with FARC.
If you look at the byline, it is very interesting that this was co-written by Juan Manuel Santos (for other readers: the current president of Colombia).
Colombian here. There are 3 kinds of people against the agreement:
1) The people who just base their arguments on what they see on tweets and memes. Those are the same who won't read the agreement paper and who haven't read about how Ireland and Rwanda solved their conflicts and how they prospered afterwards. Those are the ones who see 'shooting them all' as something physically plausible.
2) Then there are the ones who are more responsible and actually read the agreement paper. These ones will counterargument in more intelligent ways. However, all of this group's arguments converge to the fact that they are ignoring that this is the most realistic, achievable and actionable version of the agreement. They're heavily sceptical about FARC's intentions and they would like everything to be renegotiated.
3) Finally, the ones who have a huge emotional investment in the topic because their family has been directly affected by FARC. This is the group which I personally comprehend the most, but still think they are not seeing the big picture. There's no such thing as a perfect peace and FARC will evolve into smaller rebel groups. But if we have been able to combat the big group, imagine what we can do against a smaller version of it.
doozy I'm assuming you haven't read the agreement. I invite you to read the parts that explain how there will be a transitional justice mechanism that'll not only subside FARC victims but will become an investment in infrastructure, education, etc.
I also invite you to read the part that talks about how FARC will get participation in politics. There are currently 102 seats in the senate and only 5 additional ones will be given to FARC. They will also get 5 seats in the Reprsentatives Chamber, out of the current 165.
When Colombia successfully negotiated a peace treatment with another marxist guerilla in the '90s (M-19) and they became the 'Unión Patriótica' party they got 15 seats and forward to 2016, we're not Venezuela 2.0. Our economy has done pretty well actually.
There's going to be a referendum on the agreement, and in spite of the government being heavily campaigning for it, odds are voters will side against it.
If they don't I'm out of here. This will become Venezuela 2.0.