Piedad Cordoba traveled to Buenos Aires, Argentina on Saturday to attend an international forum to discuss the prospects for peace in Colombia, according to media reports.
According to organizers, the forum, entitled “Making Peace in Colombia,” was born out of the need for both, “the humanization of the conflict [in Colombia],” and, “the construction of peace with justice.”
“It is morally inescapable to appeal from an international setting,” the organizers said, as “it is not legitimate to allow more bleeding and pain.”
Beginning Monday, the forum will analyze how to help with the construction of a viable peace process in Colombia. These will include how the international state system can contribute, a review of historical lessons from previous political dialogue regarding peace in Colombia and the analysis of peace processes in other countries such as El Salvador and Guatemala.
When the forum closes on Wednesday, proposals and recommendations will be formulated from the findings of the previous two days.
The main attendees will be the former Senator Cordoba, the 1980 Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel and Spain’s Federico Mayor Zaragoza, the former director of UNESCO.
Officials, current and former, from the U.S., Mexico, Brazil and Uruguay among others, will also contribute to discussions over the three days.
The timing of the forum is significant following the previous weeks’ planned release of hostages by the FARC.
On Thursday, President Juan Manuel Santos stated, “I want to be the president who won peace,” but added that the door to negotiations is closed until the FARC cease all terrorist activities and release all remaining hostages.
