Nya fredsavtalet signeras på torsdag

Colombias revolutionära väpnade styrkor – folkets armé, FARC (även FARC-EP) (spanska: Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del Pueblo), är en revolutionär gerillaorganisation som i colombianska inbördeskriget för en väpnad kamp mot landets regeringsstyrkor samt paramilitärer. FARC-EP klassificeras som en terrororganisation av bl a Colombia, USA, Kanada och EU. Flera latinamerikanska länder inklusive Venezuela, Argentina, Brasilien och Ecuador har däremot inte terrorstämplat rörelsen. Efter fyra års förhandlingar meddelade den colombianska regeringen och FARC den 25 augusti 2016 att de nått en "slutlig, fullständig och definitiv överenskommelse" som ska avsluta konflikten i Colombia. Alla 200 punkter i avtalet ska vara överenskomna, och endast en sista genomläsning ska ske. En folkomröstning om fredsavtalet hölls den 2 oktober, majoriteten av befolkningen (50,23 %) röstade nej till fredsavtalet.

The Colombian Conflict began approximately in 1964 or 1966 and is a low-intensity asymmetric war between the Colombian government, paramilitary groups, crime syndicates, and left-wing guerrillas such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and the National Liberation Army (ELN), fighting each other to increase their influence in Colombian territory. It is historically rooted in the conflict known as La Violencia, which was triggered by the 1948 assassination of populist political leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, and in the aftermath of United States-backed strong anti-communist repression in rural Colombia in the 1960s that led liberal and communist militants to re-organize into FARC. The reasons for fighting vary from group to group. The FARC and other guerrilla movements claim to be fighting for the rights of the poor in Colombia to protect them from government violence and to provide social justice through communism. The Colombian government claims to be fighting for order and stability, and seeking to protect the rights and interests of its citizens. The paramilitary groups claim to be reacting to perceived threats by guerrilla movements. Both guerrilla and paramilitary groups have been accused of engaging in drug trafficking and terrorism. All of the parties engaged in the conflict have been criticized for numerous human rights violations. According to a study by Colombia's National Centre for Historical Memory, 220,000 people have died in the conflict between 1958 and 2013, most of them civilians (177,307 civilians and 40,787 fighters) and more than five million civilians were forced from their homes between 1985 – 2012, generating the world's second largest population of internally displaced persons (IDPs). 16.9% of the population in Colombia has been a direct victim of the war. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said that a peace deal with the FARC by 20 July 2016 would end the conflict with this organization if the talks which started in 2012 were successfully concluded. On 23 June 2016, the Colombian government and the FARC rebels signed a historic ceasefire deal, bringing them closer to ending more than five decades of conflict. However, on October 2, 2016, a majority of the Colombian public rejected the deal. Juan Manuel Santos is awarded the Nobel Prize for peace in 2016 for trying to bring an end to a civil war ongoing for a period of almost 60 years.