Colombian citizens protest their government’s peace talks with the FARC, concerned with the small amount of criminals brought justice
The plundering of cities, kidnapping of civilians, and extortion of businesses that has occurred for decades in Colombia seems to be headed into a decline. The conflict between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Colombian government has led to the deaths of over 220,000 and the displacement of millions of citizens. President Juan Manuel Santos has worked through his time in office to establish a peace agreement that could end over fifty years of conflict between the two sides. An agreement was reached between the FARC and then, suddenly a nationwide vote led to the rejection of the compromise. And the nation voted correctly. Colombia has seen too much war, and peace has been long overdue, but the terms of peace in current agreements need to be reconsidered. War crimes cannot be forgiven.
The damage that has been caused to Colombia’s population and infrastructure by the violence has been immense. The FARC started as a group composed mainly of poor workers who had no economic opportunity and wanted land reform. Now, they have resorted to illegal activities including the ransoming of citizens, smuggling of drugs for revenue, raids of towns, and killings of civilians. These despicable crimes cannot go unpunished, and the Colombian government must crack down hard on the perpetrators.
While an agreement that ends the conflict should be negotiated, the leaders of the FARC who have committed war crimes should not be given freedom and impunity. This agreement was not fair to civilians whose lives have been altered or who have lost family members as a result of the FARC’s actions. In fact, the Colombian government seemed to be kowtowing to the FARC.
That terrorists who committed war crimes would be given lesser sentences and even be able to run for offices in the future — that’s disgusting. The Colombian government should never have lowered itself to this sort of the compromise with terrorists, and it is good that the Colombian people enacted their will.
Hopefully, the opposition to the deal, led by former President Álvaro Uribe, will come up with changes to the agreement that will not allow those who have committed major crimes to go unpunished. Right now, it is thought that the difficulty will be in getting the support of the FARC in a deal in which many of its leaders would be imprisoned. The FARC, an already declining and weakened organization, should be given an ultimatum: surrender unconditionally, or be destroyed. The Colombian government issued similar ultimatums to Pablo Escobar, the notorious drug kingpin, and made good on its promise to destroy him and his operation.
President Santos recently received the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in forming an agreement with the FARC. Hopefully, the prize will provide motivation for all groups in favor and against the agreement to express their views and work to achieve peace together. If not, the country must destroy the FARC in its entirety. This so-called revolutionary Marxists are nothing more than brigands and terrorists, and must be removed as a threat to the country. It is time for peace between Colombia and the FARC — but most importantly it is time for justice.
