The Longest Running War In The Western Hemisphere Is About To End

By JP Carroll

The Colombian government is close to finally hammering out a peace deal with Marxist narco rebels and is in ‘permanent session’ negotiations as of Tuesday, to end this 52 year war, the longest in the region.

Negotiations have been going on between the government and the rebels since November 2012. Havana, Cuba is where negotiations have been taking place since it was deemed to be neutral territory for both sides.

Issues that still have to be hammered out between the two sides include a permanent ceasefire and the disarmament of the FARC – Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – rebels. Other pending matters are how to best deal with paramilitary narco-traffickers looking to capitalize on the power vacuum left by the FARC and how to ensure the safety of former guerrillas, according to ColombiaReports.

For a final deal to go through, Colombian voters must ratify it through a referendum. The United Nations will also have a role in legitimizing the deal by sending a UN Security Council mission to monitor whether both sides are following through with the terms of the deal.

Permanent session negotiations were announced May 25 and the two sides went their separate ways between then and May 31 to figure out their final negotiating stances on these issues. The new negotiating arrangement as of Tuesday is meant to speed up the pace of the long-running talks to quickly work out a deal to present to voters.

The ongoing civil war between the Colombian government and leftist paramilitary groups, the largest of which is the FARC, has claimed 220,000 people’s lives and four out of five are civilians. A further 25,000 have simply disappeared. FARC fighters have used cocaine trafficking to fund their war against the government.

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