Colombia's President
Juan Manuel Santos and Marxist FARC rebel leader Rodrigo Londono signed a
revised peace accord on Thursday in a far more sober ceremony than
a first deal
rejected last month by millions at a plebiscite.
As they inked the
pact with a pen made from a bullet at a historic Bogota theater, onlookers
chanted "We did it!"
The new accord to
end 52 years of war in Latin America's fourth-largest economy was put together
in just over a month after the original pact was narrowly and unexpectedly
defeated in an Oct. 2 referendum for being too lenient on the rebels.
The government and
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) worked together in Cuba for four
years to negotiate an end to the region's longest-running conflict that has
killed more than 220,000 and displaced millions in the Andean nation.
"It's
final!" said Santos, standing before white banners of peace and Colombia's
red, yellow and blue flag
"I invite you
to leave decades of violence forever in the past, to unite for all of us, for
Colombia, for this dear nation, and to work together for reconciliation around
shared ideals of peace."
Opposition leader
and former President Alvaro Uribe spearheaded the push to reject the original
accord and wanted deeper changes to the new version.
Opponents to the
first deal are furious Santos will ratify the new deal in Congress instead of
holding another vote and is urging street protests.
Santos had always
promised Colombians would have the final word in a referendum, but is
sidestepping that for the revised deal.
After the signing,
he sent the deal straight to Congress for a vote next week. The government's
majority means approval is likely to be speedy.
FROM ARMS TO
POLITICS
The signing ceremony
marked a six-month countdown for the 7,000-strong FARC to abandon weapons and
form a political party.
Despite widespread
relief at an end to conflict, many among Colombia's largely conservative
residents are angry because, like the original agreement, the new deal will not
jail FARC leaders who committed crimes like kidnappings and massacres, and it
allows them to hold political office.
"As a party
without weapons, the FARC can present its political project. It will be
Colombians who support or reject it with a vote," said 65-year-old Santos.
The understated
signing in the 131-year-old Teatro Colon before mostly government and local
dignitaries was a far cry from the fanfare celebration in September, where the
coastal city of Cartagena hosted world leaders.
Santos, who won the
Nobel Peace Prize last month for his peace efforts, wants to get the deal in
place as quickly as possible to maintain a fragile bilateral ceasefire.
"For the good
of the nation, let us make words the only weapon Colombians are permitted to
use," said Londono, 57, who is known by his nom de guerre Timochenko.
The expanded and
highly complex new 310-page document makes only small modifications to the
original text, such as clarifying private property rights and detailing more
fully how the rebels would be confined in rural areas for crimes committed
during the war.
The FARC, which
began as a rebellion fighting rural poverty, has battled a dozen governments as
well as right-wing paramilitary groups.
An end to the war
with the FARC is unlikely to end violence in Colombia as the lucrative cocaine
business has given rise to criminal gangs and traffickers.
Reuters
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