Is Peace in Sight for Colombia?
Is Peace in Sight for Colombia?
With President Juan Manuel Santos being sworn in on August 7, AS/COA’s Adriana La Rotta examines prospects for peace in U.S. News & World Report.
As Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos prepares to be sworn in for his second term on August 7, the country is on the cusp of ending a 50-year war with its biggest domestic insurgency. The country’s conflict with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a guerrilla force of roughly 8,000 fighters commonly known as FARC, has dragged on for over a quarter of Colombia’s post-independence history. It has caused more than 200,000 deaths and internally displaced over five million people – more than twice the number of refugees triggered by each of the wars in Iraq, Congo and Sudan.
Santos’ priority for his administration is to cement a lasting peace with the FARC and other smaller insurgent groups to enable the country to overcome the legacy of violence that ties Colombia to the past at a time when the country stands poised for an otherwise promising future.
A self-defined “extreme centrist” who favors a combination of market capitalism and measured government intervention, Santos won the July 15 election over his contender, Óscar Iván Zuluaga, a right-leaning former finance minister who enjoyed the support of former President Álvaro Uribe....
Read the full article in U.S. News & World Report's online opinion section.
