Why the Next Few Months Will be Critical for the Latest Colombia FARC Truce
Cynthia Arnson is quoted about the critical next steps in the Colombian peace process.
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"Cynthia Arnson, director of the Wilson Center's Latin America Program, told VICE News on Tuesday there are still significant unresolved questions surrounding the Havana talks — specifically the question of handling accountability for FARC leaders and providing justice for the conflict's victims. Further complicating matters, said Arnson, is FARCs wealth derived from the drug trade — profits many of its disparate members likely will be loath to give up. As the violence drags on into its sixth decade, the Columbian public, meanwhile, is increasingly suspicious of FARC's intentions."
"The experience is that the FARC used these ceasefire to gather strength and deepen their involvement in drug trafficking," said Arnson. "But the real sticking point right now is the nature of transitional justice, and whether the FARC will agree to any kind of jail time."
"In their minds [transitional justice] means they will apologize and pay some reparations, but never have to go to prison," added Arnson. "This is not a formula that is acceptable to the Colombian public."
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Latin America Program
The Wilson Center’s prestigious Latin America Program provides non-partisan expertise to a broad community of decision makers in the United States and Latin America on critical policy issues facing the Hemisphere. The Program provides insightful and actionable research for policymakers, private sector leaders, journalists, and public intellectuals in the United States and Latin America. To bridge the gap between scholarship and policy action, it fosters new inquiry, sponsors high-level public and private meetings among multiple stakeholders, and explores policy options to improve outcomes for citizens throughout the Americas. Drawing on the Wilson Center’s strength as the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum, the Program serves as a trusted source of analysis and a vital point of contact between the worlds of scholarship and action. Read more
