Post by livinginmedellin on Nov 30, 2016 14:48:52 GMT -5
Colombian Senate Approves FARC-Govt Peace Deal 75-0
Late Tuesday the Colombian Senate approved the peace deal between the government and FARC by a vote of 75-0.
The Colombian Senate unanimously approved late Tuesday the latest peace deal between the government and the FARC rebel group, a historic rapprochement that brings an end to more than half a century of civil war in the South America country.
The final 75-0 vote followed a marathan 13-hour session in the 102-seat Senate that saw both supporters and detracters of the breakthrough peace deal, updated after a defeat at the polls in an Oct. 2 plebiscite, make their case for a "Yes" or "No" vote. Senators Armando Benedetti tweeted that there had been "extensive debate."
The Senate approved the plan despite the vocal protests from Senator and former far-right President Alvaro Uribe, who led the "No" forces during the plebiscite, and who had called his supporters to take to the streets in opposition to the latest deal despite the fact that made changes to 56 of the 57 points the "No" side contested.
While Uribe and his fellow Center Democratic Party senators did not boycott the debate as they had earlier threatened, they boycotted the vote itself, walking out just minutes before voting took place, local media reported. During the session they also displayed signs reading "No Al Conejo," meaning "No to the Rabbit." In Colombia, the term "rabbit-making" means cheating and is often used to refer to people who leave a restaurant without paying. Uribe has staunchly maintained that the peace deal is too lenient on the FARC.
The 75 votes in favor easily passed the 51-vote threshold needed to approve the deal in the Senate, and the margin bestows greater legitimacy on the deal, analysts have argued.
The approval comes less than a week after Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC leader Rodrigo Londoño, also known as Timoleon Jimenez or Timochenko, formally signed the deal in Bogota last Thursday.
A previous peace agreement was narrowly defeated by less than half a percentage point in a national plebiscite on Oct. 2. Within weeks of the plebiscite, the government of Colombia and FARC leaders revised the original plan, making 50 changes will keeping foundational cornerstones of the deal in tact.
During the debate, the High Commissioner for Peace, Sergio Jaramillo, likened the peace deal to a miracle. “To achieve an agreement with the FARC after 50 years of war in an agreement which really gets to the roots of the violence, the conditions that have provoked the violence, this guarantees an end to that violence, and it’s nothing less than a miracle,” said Jaramillo during the opening of Tuesday’s debate.
The deal will now proceed to the Colombian House of Representatives, where President Santos' coalition has a majority, for approval. Once approved by both chambers of Congress, a 180-day disarmament and resettlement process begins which will be monitored by the U.N.
The peace deal, negotiated over the past four years in Havana, Cuba, brings to an end the longest and bloodiest civil war in Latin America which has left nearly 7 million people displaced, more than 260,000 dead, at least 79,000 disappeared and 30,000 kidnapped since 1958.
On Dec.10, Santos will accept the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. FARC leader Timochenko was notably left out of any formal recognition for his role in the bilateral agreement.
See: www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Colombian-Senate-Approves-FARC-Govt-Peace-Deal-75-0-20161130-0003.html
Late Tuesday the Colombian Senate approved the peace deal between the government and FARC by a vote of 75-0.
The Colombian Senate unanimously approved late Tuesday the latest peace deal between the government and the FARC rebel group, a historic rapprochement that brings an end to more than half a century of civil war in the South America country.
The final 75-0 vote followed a marathan 13-hour session in the 102-seat Senate that saw both supporters and detracters of the breakthrough peace deal, updated after a defeat at the polls in an Oct. 2 plebiscite, make their case for a "Yes" or "No" vote. Senators Armando Benedetti tweeted that there had been "extensive debate."
The Senate approved the plan despite the vocal protests from Senator and former far-right President Alvaro Uribe, who led the "No" forces during the plebiscite, and who had called his supporters to take to the streets in opposition to the latest deal despite the fact that made changes to 56 of the 57 points the "No" side contested.
While Uribe and his fellow Center Democratic Party senators did not boycott the debate as they had earlier threatened, they boycotted the vote itself, walking out just minutes before voting took place, local media reported. During the session they also displayed signs reading "No Al Conejo," meaning "No to the Rabbit." In Colombia, the term "rabbit-making" means cheating and is often used to refer to people who leave a restaurant without paying. Uribe has staunchly maintained that the peace deal is too lenient on the FARC.
The 75 votes in favor easily passed the 51-vote threshold needed to approve the deal in the Senate, and the margin bestows greater legitimacy on the deal, analysts have argued.
The approval comes less than a week after Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC leader Rodrigo Londoño, also known as Timoleon Jimenez or Timochenko, formally signed the deal in Bogota last Thursday.
A previous peace agreement was narrowly defeated by less than half a percentage point in a national plebiscite on Oct. 2. Within weeks of the plebiscite, the government of Colombia and FARC leaders revised the original plan, making 50 changes will keeping foundational cornerstones of the deal in tact.
During the debate, the High Commissioner for Peace, Sergio Jaramillo, likened the peace deal to a miracle. “To achieve an agreement with the FARC after 50 years of war in an agreement which really gets to the roots of the violence, the conditions that have provoked the violence, this guarantees an end to that violence, and it’s nothing less than a miracle,” said Jaramillo during the opening of Tuesday’s debate.
The deal will now proceed to the Colombian House of Representatives, where President Santos' coalition has a majority, for approval. Once approved by both chambers of Congress, a 180-day disarmament and resettlement process begins which will be monitored by the U.N.
The peace deal, negotiated over the past four years in Havana, Cuba, brings to an end the longest and bloodiest civil war in Latin America which has left nearly 7 million people displaced, more than 260,000 dead, at least 79,000 disappeared and 30,000 kidnapped since 1958.
On Dec.10, Santos will accept the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. FARC leader Timochenko was notably left out of any formal recognition for his role in the bilateral agreement.
See: www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Colombian-Senate-Approves-FARC-Govt-Peace-Deal-75-0-20161130-0003.html