The peace blog with the Farc

From the historic peace agreement that was signed between the government and the Farc, to put an end to a 50-year war, many details were revealed. It is known, for example, that dates from 2004, under the government of then President Álvaro Uribe, who first contacted the economist Henry Acosta of Valle del Cauca to explore the secret path of political negotiation, while the presidential statement promised only "firm hand".

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At that time, Acosta had humanitarian approaches with the FARCs, especially with Pablo Catatumbo, who was part of the state Major Major of the Guerrillas . What we know up to now, it is the report of activities authorized by the executive power in 2004, 2007 and 2010 to try to establish a demilitarized military zone and allow a humanitarian agreement. Five months before the end of the second term, on March 5, 2010, the Uribe government proposed to Acosta to hold a direct, secret and external meeting with a program to open negotiations. [19659004] But this possibility was postponed until the government of Juan Manuel Santos, because of the resurgence of the war. However, at the request of the new president, Acosta continued to mediate and only a few knew the enormous difficulties that existed for the information to arrive precisely. This was written in the hand-written report of March 3, 2011, at the first face-to-face meeting between the government and the FARC.

It reads as follows: " In Farc Sergio Jaramillo and Gustavo Bell " and Jaime Avendaño and Alejandro Eder, arrived in the remote and clandestine corner of Río de Oro, on the northern border of Catatumbo with Venezuela. they had to clarify the question. The Farc delegates for this first appointment were Rodrigo Granda and Andrés París .

It is there that it was agreed that Cuba would be the place of the first meeting ] as it was said that for the transfer of the Plenipotentiaries to Havana there were two possibilities: They arrive on their own in Venezuela, from where they would go to Cuba, or to do so in coordination with the government and the ICRC . In both cases, the executive gave "guarantees, back and forth, managing the necessary guarantees," says the minutes.

But the distrust was very great between the parties, and it was only possible to take the step when the president ] Hugo Chávez directed three other meetings, through his man of confidence: Ramón Rodríguez Chacín , and the presence of guarantor countries Cuba and Norway . They occurred on the island of Orchila (Venezuela), first on July 16 and then on July 20 and 21, 2011; as well as in the plains of Barinas, also in Venezuelan territory. Here, the details of the exploratory meeting of the plenipotentiaries in Cuba were finalized and it was agreed that the government of Hugo Chávez would "provide" the air transport of the FARC delegation that would visit the island.

one year after his signature

This year ran into mistrust and war, with the officers of the Public Force so hard for the Farc that he ended with the death of Alfonso Cano 4 November 2011. The possibility of peace has been left open. On November 15 of the same year, the FARC Secretariat announced that Timolon Jiménez had been appointed commander. But it is at the Summit of the CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States), on December 2 and 3, 2011 in Caracas, that Chávez has requested the authorization of Santos to establish a dialogue direct with Rodrigo Londoño or Timoleón Jiménez ] The meeting was held on December 7 and 8, 2011 and it was Chávez himself, who was already sick, who convinced him to resume peace talks.

The unpublished photo of the six smiling Farc delegates in Havana, in February 2012 materialized the first exploratory phase desire. There were Mauricio Jaramillo Rodrigo Granda and Andrés París as plenipotentiaries, and the delegates Marco León Calarcá and Sandra Ramírez . The first in-person meeting was held on February 23, 2012 and the government was Sergio Jaramillo, Frank Pearl, Enrique Santos Calderon, Lucía Jaramillo Ayerbe, Alejandro Eder and Jaime Avendaño. From this period was the roadmap that Jaramillo wrote, in which he said that after negotiating with the FARC and the ELN (to join, as he did later) "I will not recognize any armed group anymore."

Photo: From left to right: Bernard Aronson, United States delegate for the peace process, and government negotiators: General of Police, Oscar Naranjo; businessman Óscar Restrepo, and Sergio Jaramillo, high commissioner for peace. Source: Omar Nieto Remolina

Agendas

The exploratory phase advanced and there was an exchange of documents and agendas to build the five-point road that the country would know. The Farc, for example, presented an agenda entitled "Common Agenda for Change to a New Colombia and Other Documents" where he raised sixteen points, which could be a summary of his flat -form of 1993 and Caguán signed in 1999. The government did not accept it and proposed the construction of another, bounded.

Between 11 and 15 April the government delivered the document "Encuentro Exploratorio III" where he exposed a seven-point program including the delivery of weapons. But given the FARC's refusal to accept the point on demobilization and disarmament, the government delegation has risen from the table and the process has entered a crisis that has little transcended the press. With the help of the guarantor countries, the difficulties were resolved and the FARC accepted the term "abandonment of arms". Between August 15 and 20, 2012, with an agreed general agreement project, the FARC held the "Consultative Meeting of Commander Alfonso Cano, present!", Where they discussed the contents of the Agreement and the decided to advance to the public phase, which began on November 15, 2012.

These stories, documents, records, maps and unpublished photos of the Peace Agreement between the oldest guerrillas on the continent and the government were declassified with "Peace Process Library with Farc-EP" of the Office of the High Commissioner for Peace. An effort that collects memories and the official record of the seven years of secret and public exploratory talks that ended the Havana pact.

The ten volumes of the work show documents that the delegations kept with the In order to keep in reserve the decisions that, if made public, could have engaged the parties in useless discussions. Today, this collection opens to the scrutiny of citizens, with valuable data from years of exploratory conversations; 51 cycles of conversations, events after the defeat of the plebiscite that ratified the agreements and rounds of discussions with the spokesmen of Yes and No, among others.

Caption: Peace Library Process with Farc-EP. Source: Omar Nieto Remolina

In his reading can be felt the hard discussion that delegations had when they addressed the issue of drug trafficking or final adjustments, as well as the demand for 72 areas in the country by the Farc who ended up being 26 . From the beginning, we knew that the critical points were going to be the abandonment of the weapons and the reincorporation. Contrary to what the government admitted then

This Wednesday, again with the Colon Colon of witness, the president Juan Manuel Santos will present the collection. He will do so after the possession of nine FARC parliamentarians and two weeks after the delivery of his mandate. He is confident that, despite the uncertainties surrounding the Accord these days and the obstacles to its implementation, it will be his legacy.