Colombian government and FARC reach new peace deal

A new peace deal reached between the Colombian government and leftist FARC guerrillas aims to broaden support after voters last month narrowly rejected an original agreement to end more than 50 years of conflict.

Government and rebel negotiators announced late on Saturday in Havana that they had agreed on a host of modifications to the original deal, taking into account objections from different sectors of society that campaigned against it, led by former rightwing president Álvaro Uribe.

“We have reached a new final accord to end the armed conflict that integrates changes, precisions and proposals suggested by the most diverse sectors of society,” the two sides said in a statement.

The government, which had insisted that the first agreement was the “best deal possible”, admitted it had been improved. “I humbly recognise that this agreement is better,” Humberto de la Calle, the government’s chief negotiator, said.

“We understood the importance of reformulating [the agreement] with a broader consensus that incorporates many voices that were absent during the negotiating process,” Iván Márquez, the FARC lead negotiator, said.

Colombian voters rejected that deal in a plebiscite on 2 October.

Although the text of the new agreement was not immediately published, President Juan Manuel Santos laid out certain changes in a televised speech.

Under the new agreement, FARC commits to declare and hand over all their assets, which will be used for reparations to victims of the conflict, a provision not included in the first accord and demanded by leaders of the no vote.

The new agreement does not include jail time for former rebels but better defines the kinds of alternative punishment they will face under a special tribunal that will prosecute war crimes, according to Santos.

Critics had also balked at the idea of convicted criminals being able to hold public office. That provision remains unaltered in the new deal. Santos defended the issue.

“The reason for all peace processes in the world is precisely so that guerrillas leave their arms and can participate in politics legally,” he said.

It is not clear whether Santos will organise a new plebiscite to ratify the agreement or ask congress to approve it.