No menu items!

COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER

HomeArchiveColombia land-reform deal advances

Colombia land-reform deal advances

WPLogo

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Colombia’s U.S.-backed government and the FARC rebel group, which have been in peace negotiations to end a half-century of conflict, announced on Sunday that they had made an important breakthrough on the nettlesome issue of land reform.

Both sides characterized the agreement as a significant advance after six months of talks in Havana, Cuba, between a team of negotiators from Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos’ government and the FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The news buoyed this country’s 47 million people, who have been cautiously hopeful that peace can be achieved even as other negotiations in years past have collapsed in recriminations and violence.

“It’s the first time ever that the Colombian government and the FARC have agreed on a substantive issue — on any issue,” Colombia’s peace commissioner, Sergio Jaramillo, said in a phone interview from the Cuban capital. “There have been general agreements about things, but never on a concrete issue.”

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who arrived in Bogotá Sunday for meetings with Colombia’s government, told the newspaper El Tiempo that Santos’ government “deserves enormous recognition for launching this serious and well-designed process designed to put an end to the conflict.”

The misuse of land, and the violence that disputes over land have generated, has fueled Colombia’s current conflict since 1964, when a band of peasants founded the FARC and took to the mountains to fight the state. Under Sunday’s deal, the government agreed to an ambitious program of land distribution and titling and to set up mechanisms to deal with quarrels over farmland, Jaramillo said.

The state has also pledged a range of development programs for swaths of long-forgotten corners of Colombia: everything from roads to schools, nutritional programs to health care.

“I can say with certainty that the agreement on agriculture permits a radical transformation of the rural reality in Colombia,” said Humberto de la Calle, the government chief negotiator in the talks. “This is set up to create real changes and close the breach between the countryside and city.”

Though the accord was celebrated by both sides, there are still four major points left to resolve in the agenda that serves as the framework for the talks.

In June, when the two sides resume negotiations, they will pick up discussions over how to permit FARC commanders, many of whom face charges of war crimes and drug trafficking, to transform their organization into a political movement.

Reincorporating the commanders into civilian life faces opposition in a country where many people see the FARC as a violent criminal organization.

Other unresolved issues include creating a workable plan to battle drug trafficking in rural regions and to deliver justice to the victims of the conflict.

Though this has been the most promising of the four peace negotiations the government has held with the FARC since the 1980s, it has not been without serious obstacles.

Santos’ predecessor, Álvaro Uribe, who remains politically powerful, has steadfastly opposed the talks and has accused Santos of trying to placate FARC commanders. And while some in the government talked last fall about six to eight months of negotiations, it now appears that the discussions will go on until late in the year.

© 2013, The Washington Post

Trending Now

Algal Bloom Detected in Costa Rica’s Gulf of Nicoya

A noticeable change in watercolor has been reported across several zones of the Gulf of Nicoya and coastal areas adjacent to the Nicoya Peninsula....

Costa Rica Shines Once Again in This High-Quality Travel Video

A new 4K video now circulating online offers a fresh view of Costa Rica’s natural settings—one that captures our country's popular as well as...

Costa Rica’s Olympic Hero Claudia Poll Alleges Abuse by Famed Swim Coach

Claudia Poll, Costa Rica's only Olympic gold medalist, and two other former swimmers from the country, alleged on Monday that they suffered psychological, physical,...

Rural Costa Rica Adopts Ecosystem-Based Approach to Climate Resilience

As climate change intensifies, rural communities across Costa Rica are taking concrete steps to reduce risks and adapt to increasing climate pressures. With support...

Canadian Tourism to Costa Rica Drops Amid Rising Crime Concerns

Canadian visits to Costa Rica have started to drop in 2025, with crime playing a big part in the shift. Data from the Costa...

Costa Rica’s Religious Culture Through the Eyes of a Non-Religious Expat

Costa Rica is the only country in the Americas that has an official religion—Catholicism—enshrined in its constitution. While the Constitution recognizes freedom of worship,...
Avatar
spot_img
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Travel Insurance
Costa Rica Rocking Chait
Costa Rica Travel

Latest News from Costa Rica