Revised Final Accord with FARC could be signed Tuesday in Colombia’s capital

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Almost two months since the Final Accord between the Colombian government and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia guerrilla was rejected by a narrow margin by voters in the nationwide October 2 plebiscite, a revised accord could be signed Tuesday, November 22 at the historic Bogotá home of Liberator Simon Bolivar, la Quinta de Bolivar. The Colombian government has yet to confirm the exact location and time of the proposed ceremony.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC’s senior commander Rodrigo Londoño, alias “Timochenko” are expected to preside over a solemn event and the first meeting of the two leaders in the capital city. Santos wants to present the new accord to Congress on Wednesday.

After four years of intense peace negotiations with FARC, the original accord was signed during a ceremony in the colonial port city of Cartagena on September 26 and attended by world leaders. The original accord was then put to popular vote in a plebiscite in which an opposition “No” narrowly defeated the “Yes” by 55,000 votes.

The new accord examined 500 proposals on 57 items of a six-point agenda agreed upon before both sides sat down in Havana, Cuba to begin the peace process in 2012. FARC have accepted modifications on 56 topics, except modifying a contentious point that would bar them from engaging in politics. The signing Tuesday in Bogotá also falls within the end-of-year deadline to reach an accord and end more than a half-century of conflict. “To have a new agreement, agreed and approved, by Christmas. That is my goal,” Santos told Britain’s Observer newspaper during a recent state visit to the United Kingdom.

Santos remarked during a televised address to the nation on Saturday that the revised final peace accord with FARC will be debated in Congress before approved and passed into law.

No second plebiscite will held to validate the changes to accord and government has yet to confirm the exact location and time of the proposed ceremony.

 

 

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