FARC peace talks stoke hope — and unrest — in Colombia
During a recent recess from peace talks, FARC guerrillas offered to support peasant protests with arms and troops, and government forces suffered one of the heaviest blows since talks began.
During a recent recess from peace talks, FARC guerrillas offered to support peasant protests with arms and troops, and government forces suffered one of the heaviest blows since talks began.
Aid from foreign governments funds about half of Latin America’s civil society, but the global economic downturn has affected some of the biggest donors.
Today’s date marks what many view as the start of Colombia’s conflict with the FARC, which has left an estimated 70,000 dead and nearly 50,000 disappeared.
Three advocates and leftist political organizers were killed across Colombia last month, as FARC and government negotiators announced an unscheduled recess in peace talks until late April.
Recent kidnappings and intensified fighting have increased public skepticism about the Colombian government and FARC rebel peace talks. Today marks a new round of negotiations in Havana, Cuba.
Both the FARC and the Colombian government say they are pleased with peace negotiations so far, but citizens are losing faith. Violence continues and many feel excluded from the process.
Across Latin America, women are confronting a rise in brutal attacks — as advocates struggle to sustain the progress that’s been made in curbing violence against women.
Lack of access to land by rural populations has been a cause and a consequence of Colombia’s five-decade-old conflict – and will be a focus of today’s FARC-Colombia peace talks in Cuba.
The lack of a cease-fire means violence between Colombian forces and the FARC won’t immediately end. But hopes for peace in the decades-long conflict are high.
By Sibylla Brodzinsky
Sept. 6, 2012