Nobel peace prize revives hopes of Colombia's peace process with Farc

         

Honor bestowed upon Juan Manuel Santos surprised many Colombians who believed his chances had been scuttled by popular rejection of the peace deal.

Colombia’s president, Juan Manuel Santos, has been awarded the Nobel peace prize for his work on a peace deal that was defeated in a referendum this week, in a surprise move that could breathe new life into flailing efforts to end the 52-year war with Farc rebels.

“I receive this recognition … as a mandate to continue to work without rest for peace for all Colombians,” Santos said in an early morning address after receiving news of the prize.

“I accept it not on my behalf but on behalf of all Colombians, especially the millions of victims of this conflict that we have suffered for more than 50 years,” he said.

More than 220,000 people have died and six million have been internally displaced by the war that began in 1964 as an uprising of a small group of peasants. After four years of intense talks in Havana, government and Farc negotiators finalized a deal in August , which Barack Obama called a “historic achievement”. But the whole process was thrown into turmoil this week after Colombians narrowly voted to reject the deal in a national plebiscite.

The Norwegian Nobel committee said it hoped the prize would encourage all parties to continue working toward peace. “There is a real danger that the peace process will come to a halt and that civil war will flare up again,” said the committee chairwoman, Kaci Kullmann Five.

“The fact that a majority of the voters said no to the peace accord does not necessarily mean that the peace process is dead. The referendum was not a vote for or against peace,” she said.

The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said the prize came at “a critical moment” and proved Colombia had come “too far [along the path to peace] to turn back”.

The award to Santos came as a surprise to many Colombians who believed his chances had been scuttled by the rejection of the peace deal.

The government and groups who opposed the deal, led by former president Álvaro Uribe, have begun discussions on how to introduce changes to the agreement to address their concerns, principally provisions that would allow Farc leaders responsible for war crimes to avoid jail and run for public office.

The Farc, although they have said they remain “faithful” to the deal already signed, have indicated they are open to discussing proposals for changes. “The proposals for changes and clarifications that result from the process (between the government and ‘No’ promoters) will be discussed by the government and the Farc to give everyone guarantees,” Farc and government negotiators said in a statement on Friday.

Sergio Jaramillo, the government’s peace commissioner, told RCN radio from Havana that the negotiators recognized the outcome of the plebiscite. “We heard the ‘no,’ but we also have to listen to the ‘yes’.”

Rebel commanders have started to move their troops to secure positions “to prevent provocations” but both sides have vowed to maintain a bilateral ceasefire in effect since 29 August. Farc and government negotiators announced they had agreed on mechanisms to maintain the truce with verification by United Nations monitors, considered crucial to avoid a return to hostilities while all parties seek a solution to the current crisis.

The Nobel prize provides a boost to those efforts, according to César Rodríguez Garavito, director of Dejusticia, a Colombian thinktank. “The Nobel prize adds a positive halo to the process,” he said. “It doesn’t change the results of the plebiscite, but it reminds the parties that what is at stake is the end of the war, not political calculations,” he said.

Iván Márquez, chief negotiator for the Farc said on Twitter: “We hope that the Nobel peace prize gives President Santos strength to give life to the final agreement and dignity for all Colombians.”

But Uribe indicated he would continue to push a hard line in discussions with the government. In the same breath as congratulating Santos on the prize, Uribe said: “I hope it will lead to changes in the accord, which is harmful for democracy.”

Others were more conciliatory. Carlos Holmes Trujillo of the opposition Democratic Centre party and a member of the committee designated to search for a way out of the crisis told local radio that the prize was “a well-deserved recognition by the international community to the efforts he has been making for peace”.

Santos, 65, is a member of one of Colombia’s traditional elite families that controlled the influential newspaper El Tiempo for nearly 100 years.

He is an economist by training and holds a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University. Santos has served as minister of trade, finance and defence under different presidents.

As head of the defence minsitry under Uribe, Santos oversaw some of the most devastating blows against the Farc, including the controversial bombing of a rebel camp over the border in Ecuador in 2008, in which Raúl Reyes, a member of the Farc secretariat was killed. The incident sparked a tense diplomatic row with Colombia’s neighbors.

That same year he oversaw the operation to rescue 15 hostages held by the Farc, including the politician Ingrid Betancourt and three American defence contractors, by duping rebels into thinking they were being transferred by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

But after hitting them hard on the battlefield as minister, when Santos was elected to the presidency in 2010 he immediately began to seek negotiations with the Farc, staking his political legacy on negotiating an end to the country’s internal conflict.

Betancourt described the award as an “extraordinary boost” to the peace process – and said that the prize should have been shared with the rebels who she said had “transformed themselves”.

Though celebrated internationally, Santos is widely disliked at home, with an approval rating that hovers around 25%. His aloof, patrician air makes him a clumsy politician who struggles to communicate with the public. It doesn’t help that Colombia’s economy has slowed with the fall of oil prices.

The Nobel prize should give him more leverage with the opposition, said Darwin Boláñez, who works at a corner store in downtown Bogotá. “This will put pressure on the opposition to be reasonable,” he said. “Otherwise they’ll come off as clowns.”