COLOMBIA NEWS — Today, Novemeber 15, marks Colombian President Juan Manuel Santo 100 days iin office of his second term in the midst of negotiations aimed at achieving peace and efforts for the post-conflict stage.
Bombarded with greater force by the Democratic Centre Party – led by Álvaro Uribe – the Havana talks between government representatives and the Colombia Revolutionary Armed Forces – People’s Army (FARC-EP) are passing through the fourth item on the agenda, referred to the victims of the clashes.
Both sides achieved consensus on the issues of comprehensive rural reform, political participation, and illicit drugs.
Despite challenges and angry debates, some analysts believe that the confrontation for more than 50 years is unsustainable and that the process to end has no turn to the past. Internal country aggressive messages proffered by leaders and spokespersons of various sectors reflect the complexity of the moment.
To delineate the post-war phase, was also a hot point in the agenda of the President, who recently finished a tour by six European nations in search of political and financial support.
The main proposal of the Colombian Head of State was the creation of a trust fund to sustain projects once finished the war, an initiative that has received the support of counterparts, parliamentarians and other European personalities.
But undoubtedly his biggest challenge is to strengthen national reconciliation.
“There are Colombian citizens who fear the peace, and I am not going to talk about those people wanting to perpetuate the conflict,” he said.
After reminding the circumstances in which the negotiations came up, he called reporters to show how Colombia could be with a normality, a country that might earn 10 years of development inside a peaceful environment.
According to studies by Colombian experts, the rhythm of growth of the Colombian Gross Domestic Product might be doubled with a peaceful environment, thanks to the increase of investments and productivity in places highly affected by the clashes, or where growers are forced to move because their lives might be in danger.
The Colombian domestic conflict left 6 million victims, besides 230,000 dead people.
To deepen changes in the education system and reduce the crime indexes, are other challenges President Santos in his second presidential mandate.
In addition to the Bacrim or criminal gangs, acts as the assault on commercial establishments, residences, and financial institutions, as well as the sale of drugs, along with the theft of mobile phones and motorbikes, proliferate in Colombia.
International statistics placed it among the most violent countries in the world for the high incidence of homicides.
Child prostitution is also present in the Colombian territories, with networks with connections in other countries.
With several working fronts for employment, explaining the progress of the talks in Havana and its benefits, the speech of the Colombian President is characterized by exhortations to unity and peace above the differences.
