Colombia government, FARC release preliminary peace deals

(Photo: FARC- EP)

Colombia’s government and the country’s largest rebel group FARC on Wednesday published the partial agreements made during ongoing peace talks.

The partial deals

The three agreements cover illicit drug, rural reform and political participation and have been signed off on by both delegations in the past year.

Until Wednesday, the parties refused to release the agreements claiming none of the pacts would come into force until after the signing of an all-encompassing peace treaty.

President Juan Manuel Santos tweeted while attending the UN General Assembly in New York that the “peace process is solid and registers concrete progress. We have agreed with the FARC to make the agreements reached so far public.”

At the same time, the FARC and the government delegations released a joint statement saying there are still speculations about the agreements and “…as a measure of transparency, we decided to publish the text of the joint drafts. These represent the result of nearly two years of intense and often difficult discussions on the Agenda items of the General Agreement.”

The peace talks that began in 2012 have met strong skepticism among Colombians who had not seen the contents of the agreements until Wednesday.

According to the latest poll, 53% of Colombians oppose the talks. Only 42% approve. This opposition to the talks is fed by a pessimism over the outcome of the talks; 49% of Colombians said to not believe the talks will result in a peace agreement.

Support for peace talks with FARC

Sources

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