Highlights: Colombian President Santos on Peace Talks and Rolling Back Poverty
Highlights: Colombian President Santos on Peace Talks and Rolling Back Poverty
During the 69th UN General Assembly week in New York, AS/COA hosted Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos for a conversation regarding the most pressing challenges facing his administration. "First, no ceasefire until the end," said President Santos regarding the guidelines he's set for peace talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). "A ceasefire will be a perverse incentive for the FARC to prolong negotiations eternally because they will be in the best of all worlds: armed, with dialogue, and no military pressure.” Santos also emphasized the need to adopt a reconciliatory mind set in order to keep the process moving. In addition, the president continues to combat poverty in the country, boasting a reduction of 10 percent in the poverty rate over the last four years while aiming to eliminate extreme poverty completely in the next decade.
