Colombia and FARC Sign Ceasefire Agreement, Ending 52-year Conflict (June 23, 2016) [1]
On June 23, 2016, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos signed a ceasefire agreement [3] with Timoleón Jiménez, the commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and presidents from six Latin American countries attended the ceremony in Havana, Cuba. In a statement [4], the Secretary-General expressed support for the negotiating process initiated in 2012 and recognized that “the Colombian peace process validates the perseverance of all those around the world who work to end violent conflict.” The ceasefire agreement details a plan for the bilateral cessation of violence and the process of complete FARC disarmament. The agreement holds that rebels will lay down their arms in temporary zones within 180 days following an official peace accord. UN monitors will collect weapons in twenty-three transitional zones across the country. In a statement [5], Santos recognized the agreement as “an end to the armed conflict” and expressed his hopes of signing an official peace accord in the month of July. The official accord will be put to a nationwide referendum. A UN report [6] found that in 2015 armed violence between government forces and FARC reached its lowest level in over fifty years of conflict. The ceasefire agreement is regarded as the final step to a peace accord and is preceded by a December 2015 agreement [7] to establish a transitional justice tribunal.