Tag: peace negotiations

History in the making in Colombia: Agreement about justice and reparations for victims

~ Johannes Langer ~ Leave a comment

The word “historic” is used quite a bit these days. And yet, the agreement reached between the Colombian government and the FARC is such an historic event, although we will have to wait most likely until 23 March 2016, until a final peace agreement is going to be signed. What happened? The government and the leftist guerrilla group reached an agreement inside the fourth point on the negotiation agenda, the victims chapter and decided to sign a final peace agreement in the next six months. Continue reading “History in the making in Colombia: Agreement about justice and reparations for victims” →

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Clarifying the past: Colombia’s big step forward at peace negotiations

~ Johannes Langer ~ Leave a comment

Colombia will create a truth commission. The Colombian government and the left-wing guerrilla FARC decided on 4 June 2015 to set up a body that should clarify major human rights violations committed by all sides. It should reveal past atrocities, recognize the victims and make sure that these kinds of crimes will not be repeated in the future. While a big step forward, many challenges remain ahead. Continue reading “Clarifying the past: Colombia’s big step forward at peace negotiations” →

Why peace is ideological in Colombia

~ Johannes Langer ~ 1 Comment

Peace is not aspired by everyone in Colombia, despite the fact that the country is living in historic times to bring its civil war to an end, which has caused more than 220,000 deaths and 6,864,934 victims (mostly displaced people). In fact, the debate about peace is an ideological battle between the left and the right. Many armed actors are involved in violence, intimidation and in drug trafficking. However, the ideological view usually allows just a limited perspective one has on the conflict.
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Decision between war and peace in Colombia

~ Johannes Langer ~ 2 Comments

The first round in the Colombian presidential elections brought the two favorites into a run-off that will take place on 15 June 2014. However, it was quite surprising that it was Iván Óscar Zuluaga who gained almost 30% while incumbent Juan Manuel Santos only obtained 25% of the votes. Considering the fact that just half a year ago Zuluaga was basically unknown among Colombians and Santos was able to use all the state machinery in his favor, this first round certainly was a surprise. Now, the run-off will decide between war and peace in Colombia. Continue reading “Decision between war and peace in Colombia” →

Colombia on the crossroads after parliamentary elections

Voto en blanco (c) commons.wikipedia.org
~ Johannes Langer ~ 1 Comment
The actual "winner" of the elections are the 63% who did not vote for a party. (c) commons.wikipedia.org
The actual “winner” of the elections are the 72% who did not vote for a party. (c) commons.wikipedia.org

It was an exciting race in front of the screen. On Sunday, 32.8 million Colombians had to the chance to head to the polls to elect the lower and upper house of parliament. Colombian commentators declared ex-president Álvaro Uribe as the winner of the elections with his newly created party Centro Democrático gained 14.3% although his success might have been too little to stop the peace process with the FARC.
Continue reading “Colombia on the crossroads after parliamentary elections” →