Venezuela's Guaido says will send representatives for talks with govt

Yahoo – AFP, May 26, 2019

Representatives of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader
Juan Guaido are set to have their first face-to-face meetings in Oslo (AFP Photo/STF)

Carora (Venezuela) (AFP) - Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido said on Saturday he would send delegates to Oslo next week for the first face-to-face meeting with representatives of President Nicolas Maduro's government as part of a Norway-led mediation effort.

They "will talk with both the Norwegian government and with representatives of the regime", Guaido said in a statement, after the two Venezuelan sides traveled separately to the Norwegian capital last week without meeting.

Guaido, recognized by the United States and dozens of other countries as Venezuela's interim president, said the opposition delegation will be headed by deputy parliament speaker Stalin Gonzalez and the ex-deputy Gerardo Blyde, both of whom were involved in the initial talks with the Norwegians.

Media reports said Venezuelan Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez and the governor of Miranda province Hector Rodriguez represented Maduro's government in the initial talks, but it was unclear if they would participate in next week's meeting.

Guaido has appeared cautious about talking with Maduro's representatives since the idea is unpopular with the opposition base that has spent months in the streets trying to push Maduro out.

Earlier on Saturday, Guaido told supporters in Carora, Lara state that "nobody is ever going to get us here confused about a false dialogue."

He said there had been no "negotiation" in the earlier meetings in Norway, and that any deal should include mediation leading to Maduro's departure and new elections being scheduled.

"We are going to insist," he said, "because today by combining all our strategies, using all the tools we have, we are going to get to that final step," Guaido said, referring to street protests and multiple levels of diplomacy.

The bid for talks comes after a months-long power struggle between National Assembly leader Guaido and the socialist president, with sometimes deadly street clashes.

Guaido's backers dismiss Maduro's presidency as "illegitimate" following his re-election last year in polls widely labeled as rigged.

Maduro has been shunned by much of the international community for presiding over the country's economic collapse, which has led to shortages of basic goods -- forcing millions to flee -- as well as brutally suppressing dissent.

He retains the backing of major creditors Russia, China and Cuba, as well as the powerful military.

Guaido tried to incite a military uprising against Maduro on April 30 but only about 30 members of the armed forces joined him.

The socialist regime has since ramped up pressure on Guaido's allies and supporters, charging 10 lawmakers with treason.

The pro-government Constituent Assembly recently stripped 14 opposition lawmakers of their legislative immunity over their support for the failed uprising.

'We apologize': former Colombia FARC rebels seek forgiveness at tribunal

Yahoo – AFP, Rodrigo ALMONACID, Marcela RODRIGUEZ, July 14, 2018

The Special Jurisdiction for Peace is examining kidnappings and disappearances
that took place between 1993 and 2012 (AFP Photo/Raul ARBOLEDA)

Bogota (AFP) - Former rebel FARC commanders in Colombia have appeared at a historic tribunal where for the first time they were made to answer for kidnappings and forced disappearances under the terms of a peace deal.

"We apologize to all of them, we will do the impossible so they can know the truth of what happened, we will assume our responsibilities," said Rodrigo "Timochenko" Londono, the leader of what was until recently the most powerful guerrilla group in South America.

He was speaking at a tribunal that opened on Friday under a truth and reconciliation system agreed with the government to recognize the hundreds of thousands of victims of more than a half century of confrontation.

At the end of his appearance, the former guerrilla leader reaffirmed to the press commitments to contribute "as far as possible" towards reparations for those affected and to never again exercise violence.

During their long and failed struggle for power, the FARC resorted to abductions for economic and political purposes.

Thousands of hostages, including military, police and politicians such as Franco-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt, were kept for years deep in the jungle before being rescued or released, with many others perishing in captivity.

The prosecution has documented 8,163 victims of kidnapping involving the rebels.

The Special Jurisdiction for Peace (known by its Spanish acronym JEP) is examining the period between 1993 and 2012.

The peace agreement signed in 2016 by FARC rebels and the government has 

divided Colombian society (AFP Photo/Raul ARBOLEDA)

Thirty-one FARC commanders were summoned to the first hearing, but only Timochenko and two others appeared in person.

The rest sent lawyers, while one -- Jesus Santrich, currently detained in Bogota and awaiting extradition to the United States on drug trafficking charges -- participated by video conference.

The ex-rebels pledged to confess their crimes and make reparations to the victims as part of the 2016 agreement that disarmed 7,000 FARC fighters and led to the group becoming a political party last year.

Fulfilling the terms will result in five to eight-year-punishments in a non-prison setting that has yet to be defined.

If they fail to live up to their obligations they are liable to receive between 15 to 20 years in prison.

Outgoing president Juan Manuel Santos celebrated the start of the trials.

"This is a very important signal, because what it means is that everything that had been said about this being a peace without accounting was untrue," he told reporters.

The peace agreement, signed in 2016, has divided Colombian society.

Half vehemently defends the agreement, while the other says the concessions it offered the rebels are too great.

President-elect Ivan Duque, who will assume power on August 7, won elections promising to modify the deal to prevent former FARC leaders from becoming lawmakers.

The pact guarantees FARC ten seats in Congress.

Outside the building where the tribunal took place, around twenty people who were prevented from entering gathered in silence and exhibited photographs of those "kidnapped or disappeared" at the hands of the rebels.

"We need to know the truth most of all. They must only get reduced sentences if they tell us what really happened to the people they kidnapped," said Olga Rojas, the widow of Sergeant Jose Vicente Rojas, who disappeared in 1992.

EU removes Colombia's FARC from terror blacklist

Yahoo – AFP, November 13, 2017

Step in the right direction: A demobilized FARC member making shoes in a
Colombian training and reincorporation zone, where former guerrilla fighters
receive help in adapting to civilian life (AFP Photo/Raul Arboleda)

Brussels (AFP) - The EU on Monday removed Colombia's FARC from its list of terrorist organisations, an official told AFP, after the former guerilla movement disarmed as part of a peace deal and relaunched itself as a political party.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which battled the government for half a century in a conflict that left some 260,000 people dead, reached a historic peace deal last year and its former leader now plans to run for president.

The decision to remove FARC from the list permanently comes after the EU suspended its terror listing in September 2016 in a bid to help the peace process in Colombia.

"The Council adopted the legal acts providing for the de-listing of the FARC from the EU list of individuals and entities subject to restrictive measures to combat terrorism," an EU official told AFP, adding that the decision would be announced officially on Tuesday.

FARC guerilla leader Rodrigo Londono, also known as "Timochenko", will run

in 2018's presidential election (AFP Photo/Raul Arboleda)

After agreeing to the peace deal and disarming, the rebels transformed their movement into a political party, keeping the same initials but changing the official name to the Common Alternative Revolutionary Force.

Rodrigo Londono, 58, the group's guerilla leader better known by his nickname "Timochenko", will run in the presidential election for the party, with the first round of voting scheduled for May 2018.

The UN has heard of concerns about progress under the peace deal. There are warnings that the reintegration of former fighters is not progressing well, with many finding it difficult to return to civilian life.

FARC's demobilisation has also triggered battles over territory it used to control, the Organization of American States warned last week, particularly areas linked to the drug trade.

Colombia hails ceasefire with last rebel group

Yahoo – AFP, Hector Velasco, September 4, 2017

The FARC and ELN formed in 1964 to fight for land rights and protection of poor
rural communities in Colombia (AFP Photo/LUIS ROBAYO)

Bogota (AFP) - Colombia's government and the country's last active guerrilla group, the ELN, announced a ceasefire Monday, a key step toward sealing a "complete peace" to end Latin America's longest civil war.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos in Bogota and ELN negotiators at peace talks in Ecuador announced the ceasefire two days before a visit to Colombia by Pope Francis.

Santos said it was "great news that we are sure will delight" the Argentine pontiff.

Under the ceasefire, "there will be an end to kidnappings, attacks on oil installations and other hostilities against the civilian population," he said in a televised address.

Toward 'complete peace'

The 1,500-strong National Liberation Army has been in negotiations with the government following a separate accord that saw the main FARC rebel group completing its disarmament last month.

Under the ELN ceasefire, "there will be an end to kidnappings, attacks on oil installations and other hostilities against the civilian population," Santos said.

He said the ceasefire will be renewed depending on progress on details still to be thrashed out with the leftist rebels.

"It will come into effect on October 1, initially for 102 days, that is to say until January 12 of next year."

The ELN delegation earlier announced the deal on Twitter.

"When the days of celebration during Francis's visit to Colombia are over, we will continue determined to advance toward a de-escalation of the conflict until complete peace becomes a reality."

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said the ceasefire with the ELN guerrilla 

group would come into effect on October 1 (AFP Photo)

Rocky road

Analysts warn that the talks with the ELN, under way since February, risk being even more complicated than those with the FARC.

The talks that led to the accord with the FARC lasted four years. That deal was considered to have practically ended the conflict, but other risks remain.

The 7,000 members of the FARC finished disarming last month under UN supervision.

But officials say remnants of right-wing paramilitary groups are still fighting the ELN for control of the drug trade.

Authorities have also reported deadly attacks by ELN fighters against state forces over recent months.

The government must now seek agreement with the ELN on delicate issues such as ending hostage-taking; the rebel group has a looser command structure than FARC had.

"The lack of cohesion in the ELN is a big difference compared with the FARC," said Camilo Echandia, a conflict analyst from Colombia's Externado University.

Thousands slain

The FARC and ELN formed in 1964 to fight for land rights and to protect poor rural communities.

The conflict drew in leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitary groups and state forces.

It left 260,000 people confirmed dead, more than 60,000 missing and seven million displaced.

"The sides now have to agree on means of supervising and monitoring" the ELN talks, said political scientist Victor De Currea-Lugo from Colombia National University.

They must also seek "measures to bring about a lowering of the intensity of the conflict," he added.

Pope effect

Both sides have discussed the possibility of agreeing to a temporary ceasefire before the pope's arrival.

"The visit of Pope Francis should provide extra motivation to speed up the search for an agreement," the ELN said on Twitter.

It added that the peace talks aimed above all to help poor rural communities suffering "the unfortunate consequences of the conflict."

The pope supported the long peace process with the FARC, which last week formally transformed into a new political party to compete in next year's elections.

That peace process faced heavy resistance from critics who said the rebels got off too lightly under the deal.

Some FARC fighters have received amnesties and alternative sentences for crimes committed during the conflict.

Colombia FARC rebels reborn as 'revolutionary' party

Yahoo – AFP, Rodrigo ALMONACID, September 1, 2017

The name of the new FARC political party is the Common Alternative
Revolutionary Force, which in Spanish controversially retains the same
acronym of the communist guerrilla group (AFP Photo/HO)

Bogota (AFP) - Colombia's FARC former guerrillas relaunched Friday as a political party, changing their logo of rifles for a red rose after disarming to end a half-century civil conflict.

The new party will have a "broad character, a new party for a new Colombia," the group's former military commander Pablo Catatumbo told a press conference.

It will be a movement "committed to guarantee social justice, peace, sovereignty and agrarian reform, for the defense of popular interests," he said.

FARC leader Rodrigo Londono on Thursday announced the name of the new party: the Common Alternative Revolutionary Force.

The name controversially retains the same acronym and the revolutionary spirit of the communist guerrilla group, which fought a bloody 52-year campaign against the state before signing a peace deal last year.

Demobilized and renamed, the party now faces a struggle for political acceptance in a country scarred by decades of attacks and kidnappings.

You say FARC

FARC delegates spent the week in a founding congress to choose their political representatives.

The choice of name was the other key item on the agenda.

Some FARC leaders wanted to keep the "revolutionary" element, while others favored softening the group's image by dropping it in favor of "New Colombia."

In the end, a majority voted to call it in Spanish Fuerza Alternativa Revolucionaria del Comun, so it will still be known as the FARC for short.

The logo for the new party is a socialist-style red rose with a star in its center above the letters FARC in green.

The former armed group's logo was two crossed rifles under a book.

- What's in a name -

The FARC acronym is a sensitive point in an already delicate peace process, since for many Colombians it is synonymous with the deaths and suffering of the war.

"It is possible that this name from the start will restrict them to representing only a small sector of the population," said sociologist Fabian Sanabria.

A spokesman for the party said an official English translation for its title would be announced.

Peace and justice

The FARC formed as a communist movement in 1964 from a peasant uprising for rural land rights.

Over the following decades, the conflict drew in various rebel forces, paramilitary groups and state forces.

It left some 260,000 people confirmed dead, 60,000 unaccounted for and seven million displaced in Latin America's longest conflict.

Political challenge

The new party will compete in next year's general elections.

Catatumbo told AFP that the new party plans to formally select its new political representatives by November. Among them are likely to be several former prominent guerrilla commanders, including Catatumbo himself.

Regardless of how many votes they may win, the peace deal signed with the government last year guarantees the FARC five seats in each of the two legislative chambers for two terms.

Colombians narrowly rejected the government's peace deal with the FARC in a referendum last year.

President Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC then tweaked it and the government pushed it through Congress.

"We have entered legal political life because we want to be a government or be part of it," said Ivan Marquez, the rebel's chief negotiator in the talks with Santos's government.

The new FARC will seek to build "a large democratic coalition of broad convergence, built on shared policies and mutual commitments," said Marquez.

The government has also opened peace talks with Colombia's last active group, the 1,500-strong National Liberation Army (ELN), in the hope of sealing what Santos calls a "complete peace."

FARC leaders and officials warn that remnants of right-wing paramilitary groups are still carrying out attacks in the conflict zones.

Thousands of Colombians gather on Bolivar Square to celebrate as #FARC forms new political party pic.twitter.com/SEjNHVqbVH

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 2, 2017

Colombia's FARC rebels will launch as political party on September 1

Yahoo – AFP, July 24, 2017

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos was awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize for reaching an historic deal with the FARC

Colombia's leftist FARC rebels announced Monday they will launch as a political party on September 1, a major step as the group transitions into civilian life as part of a historic peace agreement.

"We will publicly launch the party on September 1 in the Plaza de Bolivar," in Bogota, guerrilla commander Carlos Antonio Lozada told AFP after a news conference by the group, almost a month after it completed its disarmament.

Lozada, whose real name is Julian Gallo, said the group had been working on the details of the "great political-cultural act."

"We made peace to participate in politics," FARC chief negotiator Ivan Marquez said.

The FARC political party's policies and name will be decided at a congress at the end of August.

The disarmament last month by the roughly 7,000 members of Colombia's biggest rebel group under the 2016 peace accord brought a complete end to a half-century-old civil conflict between the FARC and the government.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for reaching the historic deal with the FARC that was signed last November.

The accord was narrowly rejected by Colombians in a referendum last year before it was redrafted and pushed through congress.

The country's only remaining rebel group, the smaller ELN, is currently following the path set by the FARC to negotiate a peace deal aiming to disarm and demobilize.

The civil conflict has left 260,000 dead. About 60,000 Colombians remain unaccounted for and seven million have been displaced in the conflict.

Colombia's President Santos receives Nobel Peace Prize

Yahoo – AFP, Pierre-Henry Deshayes, with Gael Branchereau in Stockholm, December 10, 2016

Nobel Peace Prize winner Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos poses with
 his award in Oslo on December 10, 2016 (AFP Photo/Haakon Mosvold Larsen)

Oslo (AFP) - Colombia's peace deal between the government and the Marxist FARC rebels is a model for war-torn countries like Syria, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said Saturday as he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize.

The peace accord, signed on November 24 to end five decades of conflict, is a "model for the resolution of armed conflicts that have yet to be resolved around the world."

"It proves that what, at first, seems impossible, through perseverance may become possible even in Syria or Yemen or South Sudan," Santos said during a lavish ceremony at Oslo's City Hall, decked out in red, orange and white roses and carnations imported from Colombia for the occasion.

After a first peace deal was rejected in a popular vote on October 2, the rebels and government negotiated a new accord to end the conflict, which has killed more than 260,000 people, left 45,000 missing and forced nearly seven million to flee their homes.

"The Colombian peace agreement is a ray of hope in a world troubled by so many conflicts and so much intolerance," he said.

Yet in an interview with AFP just hours before Saturday's prize ceremony, Santos acknowledged that the hardest part of the country's peace process was yet to come.

The period ahead "is a more difficult phase than the (negotiation) process itself, and will require a lot of effort, perseverance and humility," he said.

"A lot of coordination efforts will also be needed... to bring the benefits of peace to the regions that have suffered the most in the conflict," he added.

He also said he could offer no guarantees there would be a peace deal in place with Colombia's second-largest rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), before the end of his mandate in 2018.

"I will do my best but to establish a time frame is always counter-productive in negotiations of this sort," he said.

In a speech at the ceremony, Berit Reiss-Andersen, deputy chairwoman of the Nobel committee, urged "all sides in Colombia to carry on the national dialogue and continue on the road to reconciliation.

"Hopefully, a similar negotiated disarmament agreement with the ELN guerrilla will soon be in place as well."

The Nobel prize consists of a gold medal, a diploma and a cheque for eight million Swedish kronor (824,000 euros, $871,000), a sum Santos promised to donate to the victims of the war.

The 2016 Nobel Prize laureates (AFP Photo/Paz PIZARRO)

Dylan's snub

Later on Saturday, another ceremony will be held in Stockholm where the Nobel laureates in the sciences, economics and literature will be honoured -- a ceremony marked by the notable absence of this year's literature laureate, Bob Dylan.

The first songwriter to win the prestigious award, he has declined to attend the glittering ceremony due to "pre-existing commitments".

The no-show has created a stir in Sweden, where it has been perceived as a slight towards the Swedish Academy that awards the literature prize and the Nobel Foundation.

Announced as the winner on October 14, Dylan waited almost two weeks to publicly acknowledge the accolade, a silence one Academy member termed "impolite and arrogant".

Dylan did ultimately say he was honoured to win, but then informed the Academy in mid-November that he would not be travelling to Stockholm to accept his prize.

"A slap in the face," remarked editorialist Lena Mellin at one of Sweden's biggest dailies, Aftonbladet.

"Anyone who has ever received a prize, even if it's just for being the best neighbour in the apartment building, knows that the least one can do is go and accept it," she wrote.

On social media, opinions were mixed.

"If it were me, I would probably... collect a Nobel Prize and $900,000. But it's Bob, and that's part of what makes him Bob," wrote fan Evan Sarzin on the singer's Facebook page.

"He is 75, give him a break," argued another, Karen Lunebach.

The singer-songwriter has sent a thank-you speech to be read at the gala banquet at Stockholm's City Hall, attended by around 1,300 guests and the Swedish royal family.

And just before that, American rock star Patti Smith will sing Dylan's "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" during the formal prize ceremony at Stockholm's Concert Hall.

According to the Nobel Foundation, his prize should be presented to him in person sometime in 2017, either in Sweden or abroad.

Have a look at @JuanManSantos Nobel Diploma! #NobelPrize pic.twitter.com/vXoU54m6rq

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) December 10, 2016

Colombia signs contested new peace deal

Yahoo – AFP, Alina Dieste, November 25, 2016

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos signs the historic peace agreement
 between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia in Bogota, on November 24, 2016 (AFP Photo/Luis Robayo)

Bogota (AFP) - Colombia's government and FARC rebels signed a controversial revised peace accord to end their half-century conflict, set to be ratified in Congress despite bitter opposition.

President Juan Manuel Santos and guerrilla leader Rodrigo "Timochenko" Londono signed the new deal with a pen made from a spent bullet, in a low-key ceremony in the capital Bogota.

The original deal -- signed with great fanfare in September -- was rejected by voters in a referendum last month, a shock upset that sent negotiators back to the drawing board.

The new plan bypasses a vote by the Colombian people, against bitter opposition from critics.

They say the revisions are only cosmetic and will still grant impunity for war crimes committed by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Santos, who won this year's Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end the conflict, said the new deal was better than the original.

"It includes the hopes and observations of the vast majority of Colombians," he said after signing it.

"We all know in our souls that the cost of the armed conflict is too high."

President Juan Manuel Santos (L) and head of the FARC guerrilla Timoleon 

Jimenez, aka Timochenko, shake hands during the second signing of the peace

 agreement at Colon Theater in Bogota, Colombia, on November 24, 2016 (AFP

Photo/Luis Robayo)

Fragile ceasefire

The deal was immediately sent to Congress, where it is expected to pass after being debated next week. Santos and his allies hold a majority in the legislature.

The government and FARC both say they are under pressure for fear that their fragile ceasefire could break down.

A recent wave of alleged assassinations in conflict zones has added to calls to seal a deal fast.

But an aftermath of discord and uncertainty appears likely as opponents promised to keep resisting the peace plan, including with street protests.

"The country has spoken. It has said, 'Yes to peace, but without impunity,'" said top opponent Alvaro Uribe, a conservative ex-president and senator.

"What we have here remains total impunity," he told RCN television.

Speaking later in the Senate, he called for another referendum on some of the contested "basic issues" in the deal.

Opposition objections

The government and FARC negotiators' redrafted version of the deal includes concessions from the rebels on issues such as reparations for victims.

But Uribe complains it still ignores key demands, notably on punishing FARC leaders for the killings and kidnappings blamed on the group.

Under the deal, the Marxist rebels would disarm and become a political party.

The deal allows non-custodial sentences for convicted FARC members.

Uribe and his allies demand tougher punishments and say rebel leaders guilty of war crimes should not be allowed to run for office before completing their sentences.

A survey by pollster Datexco published on Wednesday found that 58 percent of people want more revisions to the deal.

Bypassing voters

Congress will open a live televised debate on the deal from next Tuesday.

On the streets of Bogota, passerby Overnis Diaz welcomed the agreement.

"We have lived through a war of more than 50 years. We want no more bloodshed," he said.

But another local, Dayanna Gil, said: "It should be approved through a popular vote... We should all have a say."

Disarmament in months

Santos said that five days after the deal is approved, the FARC rebels will begin gathering in demobilization zones and will hand over their weapons to the United Nations within five months.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hailed Thursday's deal.

"The violent incidents that have taken place recently in conflict-affected areas underscore the relevance of many of the commitments contained in the agreement and the urgency of putting them into effect," his spokesman said in a statement.

The Colombian conflict has killed at least 260,000 people and displaced seven million since it erupted in 1964, according to the authorities.

It has drawn in various left- and right-wing armed groups, state forces and gangs.

Recent efforts by the government to start talks with the second-biggest rebel group, the leftist ELN, have failed due to disputes over hostages.

Colombia signs revised peace deal pic.twitter.com/mZdgYtKizn

— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 25, 2016

Related Articles:

FARC, Colombian government strike new peace deal

Juan Manuel Santos: Colombia rebels' archfoe turned peacemaker

FARC, Colombian government strike new peace deal

Yahoo – AFP, Hector Velasco with Carlos Rodriguez in Bogota, November 13, 2016

FARC-EP leftist guerrilla commander Ivan Marquez (C) and the head of the
Colombian delegation for peace talks Humberto de la Calle (R) shake hands
after signing a new peace agreement on November 12, 2016 (AFP Photo/Yamil Lage)

Havana (AFP) - Colombia's government and Marxist FARC rebels announced a revised peace deal to end 52 years of armed conflict, after voters rejected a prior peace accord in a referendum.

"We have reached a new final agreement to end the armed conflict, which incorporates changes, clarifications and some new contributions from various social groups, which we have gone through one by one," said a joint statement read out by diplomats from Cuba and Norway, the peace process guarantors.

"Building a stable, lasting peace must be the shared commitment of all Colombians, and one that helps polarization be overcome while including all social and political voices," the statement added.

Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos stressed that the new peace deal "is a better agreement."

"We made adjustments, tweaks and changes in 56 of the 57 issues that were addressed," Santos said, so "we can build a deeper and broader peace."

The modified agreement leaves intact the accord's major tenets, including the FARC laying down its arms and becoming a political party.

However, it includes a number of "innovations" to several of the key points in the original peace deal, according to the government's lead negotiator Humberto de la Calle.

In Bolivar Square at the heart of historic Bogota, dozens of people celebrated the news with white balloons and Colombian flags.

The new accord was fine-tuned after the groups that opposed the original deal submitted proposed changes as starting points for negotiations.

"The tweaks and clarifications we have made do not undermine the issues we agreed on, which shaped the first peace deal," De la Calle said.

Santos acknowledged that a suggestion seeking to bar rebel leaders involved in serious crimes from elections was not part of the re-worked peace deal.

He also hinted that the new accord would maintain the provision that FARC rebels could avoid prison time by confessing and carrying out acts of reparation to victims.

FARC-EP leftist guerrilla commander Ivan Marquez (R) said the only thing a 

new peace accord with the government needed was "to be put into effect"

 (AFP Photo/Yamil Lage)

'Total peace'

But he added that there would be specifications concerning the "effective restriction of their freedom."

The agreement also states that foreign magistrates will not be allowed on special tribunals to hear cases about those involved in the conflict.

An upbeat chief rebel negotiator Ivan Marquez said "the only thing the new accord needs now is to be put into effect."

At the moment, neither side has made any mention of the new peace deal being put before a new referendum vote.

The United States hailed the agreement, and pledged continuing US support in implementing a peace under which the guerrillas would demobilize and become a political party.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement that the new accord "constitutes an important step forward on Colombia's path to a just and durable peace."

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and Santos' government had been meeting since October 22 to try to rescue a peace deal that has taken four years to negotiate.

In an October 2 referendum, voters unexpectedly rejected the peace agreement, deeming it too soft on the country's largest rebel group.

The development was a blow to Santos, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last month for his efforts to bring "total peace" to Colombia.

Meanwhile, talks with the smaller ELN (National Liberation Army) have been on hold over government demands it first free all hostages.

Founded in 1964, the FARC and the ELN are the last two leftist guerrilla groups involved in a messy, multi-sided conflict that has killed more than 260,000 people, left seven million displaced and 45,000 more people missing.

Santos's government had been due to open peace talks with the ELN, Colombia's second-largest rebel group, on October 27.

But he called them off when the rebels failed to release ex-congressman Odin Sanchez, which he had set as a precondition.

Juan Manuel Santos: Colombia rebels' archfoe turned peacemaker

Yahoo – AFP, Alina Dieste, October 7, 2016

Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos came to power in 2010 (AFP

Photo/Guillermo Legaria)

Bogota (AFP) - Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, who won the Nobel Peace Prize Friday, is a son of a powerful family who staked his legacy on troubled efforts to make peace with the communist FARC rebels.

The Nobel Committee hailed the two-term president's "resolute" bid to end Latin America's longest conflict -- despite a shock referendum defeat last weekend for the peace accord he has championed.

"I prefer an imperfect accord that saves lives to a perfect war that keeps sowing death and pain," Santos had said as he signed the historic deal last month with his erstwhile mortal enemy, the FARC guerrilla leader Timoleon "Timochenko" Jimenez.

Juan Manuel Santos (AFP Photo/Gustavo IZUS,

Tatiana Magarinos)

Voters rejected the deal to end five decades of conflict by a razor-thin margin in Sunday's referendum -- a move the Nobel committee warned could plunge the country into fresh civil war.

The 65-year-old Santos, a career politician, led a major offensive against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) as defense minister from 2006 to 2009.

But after becoming president in 2010, he changed tack and negotiated for a settlement with the guerrillas.

"I was never a hawk or a dove. I've always been a standard-bearer for peace," he told AFP in an interview before the September deal.

'Do the right thing'

Santos defied fierce opposition to the talks from some former allies.

"I am not looking for applause. I just want to do the right thing," he once said.

He won reelection in 2014 in a vote widely seen as a referendum on the talks. But his popularity rating has since plunged.

Santos said receiving the Nobel Prize would be "a great stimulus" for efforts to achieve peace.

"We are very, very close, we just need to push a bit further," he told the Nobel Foundation in a telephone interview.

He accepted the prize "not in my own name, but in the name of all Colombians, especially the millions of victims," he added later in a televised address.

"I will dedicate all my strength to this cause for the rest of my life."

'Political courage'

UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi hailed Santos's "political courage" and voiced hope the impasse could be overcome.

A former hostage of the FARC, Ingrid Betancourt -- a Franco-Colombian former politician who was held in the jungle for six years -- said it was a "just" reward for Santos, but added that the rebels should have shared the Nobel.

Since Santos launched peace negotiations four years ago, his predecessor, ex-president Alvaro Uribe, has become his main critic, arguing that the peace accord offered the rebels impunity for their crimes.

Both Uribe and FARC leader Timochenko congratulated Santos on the award, however.

Santos "made war as a means to achieve peace," Santos's brother-in-law and adviser, Mauricio Rodriguez, told AFP recently.

"He weakened the FARC to make them sit at the negotiating table," he added.

The peace drive "required courage, audacity, perseverance and a lot of strategy -- those are Santos's strengths."

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos (left) and FARC leader Timoleon 

Jimenez, aka Timochenko, shake hands after signing a historic peace agreement 

in Cartagena, on September 26, 2016 (AFP Photo/Luis Acosta)

'Extreme center' politician

Santos was born in August 1951 in Bogota into a rich, powerful family entrenched in Colombian politics and the media.

He has described himself as politically in the "extreme center."

He was educated at a top naval academy in the Colombian city of Cartagena and later at the London School of Economics.

Santos began his career as a journalist, winning a Spanish award for his coverage of the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua as a young man.

The work he did along with his brother Enrique in Nicaragua "had a profound impact on us both," Santos once said.

In 1991 he switched to politics, and has served in various ministerial posts.

An admirer of Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Nelson Mandela, Santos is said to be an early riser and late sleeper. He survived prostate cancer in 2012.

His source of strength, he says, is his family -- "my saints," he has called them, playing on his surname which means saints in Spanish.

He and his wife Maria Clemencia Rodriguez have three children.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos wins Nobel Peace Prize for "resolute" efforts to end over 5 decades of war https://t.co/9f5Lf5eDGU pic.twitter.com/0XB1ve9yDe

— AFP news agency (@AFP) October 7, 2016

Related Articles:

Santos to donate Nobel prize money to Colombia conflict victims - New


THE OLD SOUL 2013 TOOLKIT" – Jan 13, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll)  (Text version)

"... The Change in the Way Things Work

Now I'm going to be very cautious with number five, and I'm going to change a paradigm of the way we channel. For 23 years, we have given you information in the soup of potentials that we read around you as the highest probable potential that exists. These things eventually become your reality because they are your free choice, and we know what you're thinking. We know what the potentials are because we know what the biases are, and we see all of humanity as a whole. Potentials are energy, and it gives us the ability to project your future based on how you are working these potentials. We have done this for a long time. Twenty-three years ago, we told you about many things that were potentially going to happen, and now they are your reality.

But now I'm going to depart from that scenario and I'm going to give you a potential on Earth that is not the strongest. I am going to tell you about a Human Being who has a choice. This potential is only about 50 percent. But I'm going to "read a potential" to you that you didn't expect. It's about a paradigm that is starting to shift.

Let's talk about North Korea. There's a young, new leader there. The potential is that he will never, ever hear this channel, so I can talk freely about him. He is facing a dilemma, for he is young and he knows about the differences in the energy in his land. He feels it. The lineage of his departed father lies upon him and all that is around him expects him to be a clone of this lineage. He is expected to continue the things that he has been taught and make North Korea great.

But he's starting to rethink them. Indeed, he wants to be a great leader, and to be heard and seen, and to make his mark on North Korea's history. His father showed him that this was very important. So he ponders a question: What makes a world leader great?

Let's ask that question to someone in an older earth paradigm from not that long ago. He will be an expert and a successful one. So this is a valid exercise, asking someone from the past who knows. We will ask that question to a man who you know and whose name is Napoleon. For us, this was yesterday and some of you were there. 

If you asked Napoleon, "What makes a world leader great?", he will say, "the size of the army, how much area can be efficiently conquered with a given amount of resources and men, how important the leader appears will then be based upon how many citizens call him emperor or king, the taxes he can impose, and how many fear him." Not only was that Napoleon's reality, but he was right for the energy he was part of at the time. So Napoleon went back and forth between world leader, general and prisoner. He accomplished almost everything he set out to do. His expertise was obvious, and you remember his name to this day. He was famous.

What makes a world leader great? What I am showing you is the difference in thinking between then and now. There are some choices that this evolving young Human Being has that could change everything on the planet if he wanted. His father would tell this boy that what makes a world leader great is the potential of his missile power, or how close he can get to having a nuclear weapon, or how he stands up against the power of the West, or how he continues to aggravate and stir drama as a small country - getting noticed and being feared. His father would tell him that this is his lineage and that is what he's been told all his life. His father did it well and surrounded himself with advisors who he then passed on to his son.

Now, there's a 50 percent chance of something happening here, but this is not a strong potential, dear ones. I'm bringing this forward so you can watch it work one way or the other. For if the son continues in his father's footsteps, he is doomed to failure. The energy on the earth will see it as old and he will be seen as a fool. If, however, he figures it out, he could be the most famous man on the planet... which is really what his father wanted.

If Kryon were to advise this man, here's what I would tell him. He could be the greatest known leader the current world has ever known, for what he does now will be something the world will see as a demarcation point from the old ways. Not only that, but what he does now will be in the history books forever, and because of his youth, he has the potential to outlive every other leader on the planet! So he's going to have longer fame than anyone ever has.

I would tell him this: Tell the border guards to go home. Greet the south and begin to unify North and South Korea in a way that no past prophet ever said could happen. Allow the two countries to be separate, but have them as two parts of a larger Korean family with free trade and travel. Start alliances with the West and show them that you mean it. Drop the missile programs because you will never need them!

This will bring abundance to the North Korean people that they never expected! They will have great economic sustenance, schools, hospitals and more respect than ever for their amazing leader. The result would be fame and glory for the son, which the father had never achieved, something that the world would talk about for hundreds of years. It would cause a United Nations to stand and applaud as the son walked into the Grand Assembly. I would ask him, "Wouldn't you like that?"

Doesn't this seem obvious to most of you? He could achieve instant fame and be seen as the one who made the difference and started something amazing. But watch him. He has a choice, but it's not simple. He still has his father's advisors, but one of which he's already dismissed. He may get it, or he may not. There is a 50 percent chance. But I'll tell you that if he doesn't do it, the one after him will. Because it is so obvious. 

We show you this to tell you that this is the evolvement of the Human species. It is the slow realization that putting things together is the answer to all things, instead of separating them or conquering them. Those who start promoting compromise and begin to create these energies that never were here before will be the ones you're going to remember. Dear ones, it's going to happen in leadership and politics and in business. It's a new paradigm...."