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Ceasefire Agreement Reached In Colombia

A boy holds a sign that reads in Spanish "Children celebrate peace" during the celebration of the agreement between Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, and Colombia's government, in Bogota, Colombia last week. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and the head of the country's leftist FARC rebels agreed Thursday on a cease-fire and rebel disarmament deal that moves the country closer to ending a 52-year war that has left more than 220,000 people dead.

A boy holds a sign that reads in Spanish “Children celebrate peace” during the celebration of the agreement between Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, and Colombia’s government, in Bogota, Colombia last week. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and the head of the country’s leftist FARC rebels agreed Thursday on a cease-fire and rebel disarmament deal that moves the country closer to ending a 52-year war that has left more than 220,000 people dead.

Fernando Vergara

After four years of negotiations, Colombia’s government has reached a ceasefire agreement with the leftist guerilla group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). 

Negotiations had stalled over FARC laying down its arms and many hurdles still remain to end decades of civil war. Bogata still has to negotiate peace deals with another rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN) and also with large criminal gangs. 

We talk about the accord and its potential to forge a permanent peace with Gimena Sánchez, senior associate at the Washington Office on Latin America.

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