Colombia president, rebels to talk peace in Cuba

November 2012 – Formal peace talks begin in the Cuban capital Havana between the Colombian government and the Farc.

Rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have fought the Colombian government for 51 years in a conflict that has killed some 220,000 and displaced millions.

“The main point of all these negotiations is where to draw the line between justice and peace.it doesn’t matter where you draw it, some people with not be satisfied,” Santos said on Tuesday in a veiled allusion to the announcement that was to come.

“I want to warmly welcome the agreement reached on justice issues between the Colombian government and FARC negotiators in negotiations in Havana” he said.

Previously, the president has said the unwillingness of rebel leaders to serve prison sentences has been the biggest obstacle to a peace deal.

Santos and Timochenko greeted each other in a handshake likely to stand as a lasting image in.

Negotiators said it came as rebels rushed to demonstrate progress ahead of this week’s visit to Cuba by Pope Francis, who during his stay on the communist-led island warned the two sides that they did not have the option of failing in their best chance at peace in decades. Though many Colombians say in surveys that they want peace, Santos’ popularity has slumped since his re-election past year, and the deal could collapse if voters reject it because they think it lets FARC off too easy.

“That would mark the end of the conflict phase and the beginning of the phase of transition toward the post-conflict era”, he said. On Wednesday, however, those disagreements appeared resolved as both sides “finally agreed on a framework for investigating rights abuses, punishing guerrillas for their involvement in those crimes and offering compensation to victims”, the Wall Street Journal notes.

Aerial spraying of glyphosate – a two-decade, U.S.-supported and operated program unpopular with many Colombians – was suspended by Santos in May after the release of a World Health Organization report suggesting the chemical may cause cancer.

A spokesman for Pope Francis, who pleaded with Colombia’s government and rebels to reach peace during a mass in Havana on Sunday, said he would also be happy at the advance.

Today marked an apparent breakthrough in peace talks to resolve the longest-running armed conflict in Latin America.

One victim of the Farc from Cauca province, who asked to be identified as Alicia, said the deal was an “injustice” for those who have suffered at the hands of the guerrillas.

It comes after the parties reached a breakthrough in talks that put the country closer to peace than it has been in half a century. Many Colombians fled to slums in the outskirts of the country’s largest cities to escape the conflict in rural areas. “Without jail time for the commanders, there will be a deal in Havana but also a recipe for more violence in Colombia”. The ELN, a smaller guerrilla group, is engaged in talks about talks, but could remain a violent irritant.

The leaders said the peace talks should be concluded in “no later than six months”, meaning Colombia could theoretically see a peace agreement by March 2016.