The Colombian peace process has taken a key step forward, with the announcement yesterday, September 23, by the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP), in a special session attended by Cuban President Raúl Castro, that agreement had been reached on one of the most important issues on the negotiations agenda: reparations for victims and justice.
The event was described as transcendental not only because of the presence, for the first time, of the two sides’ highest ranking leaders - President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC-EP Chief of Staff Timoleón Jiménez - but also because this agreement allows Colombia to move one step closer to a definitive end of the decades-long conflict.
Nevertheless, representatives of the negotiating teams emphasized that important issues remain to be resolved to assure peace, such as the laying down of arms, a cease-fire and the problem of paramilitaries, among others.
Government and rebel representatives agreed to a deadline for completing the talks, March 23, 2016, and will redouble efforts to meet this goal.
They clarified that the agreement reached yesterday proposes a system of transitional, restorative justice which will focus on victims, specifying that those guilty of most crimes will be eligible for amnesty, but those responsible for atrocities, genocide, extra-legal executions, kidnappings and crimes against humanity will be prosecuted in a court which will uncover the truth.
Those who voluntarily take responsibility will face restorative justice, a sentence of five to six years, while those who do not admit guilt will face up to 20 years.
The delegations led by Juan Manuel Santos and Timoleón Jiménez acknowledged the role of Cuba and Norway as guarantors of the peace talks, as well as that of Chile and Venezuela who are accompanying the process.
They recalled the recent words of Pope Francis during his mass in Havana, imploring that another failure not be permitted in the Colombian peace talks.
