Colombia's FARC rebels have convened a final conference to approve a peace agreement and chart a political future. Colombians will vote in a referendum on the historic accord on October 2.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/L. Acosta
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Colombia's Marxist FARC rebel group convened its last wartime conference on Saturday as it looks to transition to a political movement as part of an historic peace agreement to end 52 years of conflict.
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) representatives are expected to ratify the agreement with the government at the weeklong conference, held deep in guerilla-controlled territory several hours by road from the nearest town.
FARC leader Rodrigo Londono, also known as Timochenko, told several hundred mostly unarmed guerillas who traveled from jungle hideouts that they would continue to fight for social justice as a political party.
"If our adversaries want to think they won the war, that's up to them," Timochenko said in his inaugural address to the congress, which for the first time was open to journalists. "For the FARC, our biggest satisfaction will always be that peace has won."
The 10th congress, the last as an armed force, is expected to chart a course for a new political movement, determine who will represent FARC in Colombia's congress and address strategy and implementation of the peace terms.
Timochenko and President Juan Manuel Santos are slated to sign the deal on September 26. Then on October 2, Colombians will vote in a referendum to reject or accept the deal, which took nearly four years of negotiations in Cuba to reach.
The accord envisions FARC demobilizing of some 7,500 guerillas under UN supervision.
FARC's yet-to-be-named political movement will be guaranteed five seats in both the lower house and senate.
Another 16 seats will be reserved for activists in rural areas neglected by the state. Existing political parties will be banned from these areas.
Latin America's longest armed conflict comes to an end
The Colombian government has reached a historic truce with FARC, ending over half a century of violence with the leftist group. Latin America's longest conflict claimed at least 220,000 lives.
Image: Reuters/A. Meneghini
How the insurgency started
In 1948, the assassination of populist leader Jorge Eliecer Gaitan sparked political chaos in Colombia known as "the violence." Tens of thousands died and peasant groups joined with communists to arm themselves. Later in 1964, a military attack on the insurgency's main encampment led to the creation of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
What the rebels wanted
FARC's political ideology has never been well defined. Initially, it sought to weaken the oligarchy's grip on power. The rebels also wanted land reforms in a country where more than 5 million people have been forcibly displaced, mostly by far-right militias. However, the group lost popularity as it turned to kidnapping and illegal gold mining for funds.
Image: Reuters
How the US got involved
To help the Colombian security forces fight against the insurgency and to counter drug-trafficking, the US began sending billions of dollars under Plan Colombia. The US State Department classifies the group as a terrorist organization and its leaders face US indictments.
Image: Reuters/J. Vizcaino
The human cost of the conflict
Latin America's longest-running armed conflict is responsible for the death an estimated 220,000 people, while millions of Colombians have been displaced within their country. According to Bogota’s estimates, there are 7.6 million direct and indirect victims of the conflict. The country has more landmine victims than any country except for Afghanistan.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Escobar Mora
Peace accord after decades of failed attempts
Peace talks between FARC and the government collapsed in the mid 1980s after at least 3,000 allies of FARC's political wing Patriotic Union Party were killed at the hands of right-wing paramilitaries. Efforts fell short again in 2002 after the rebels hijacked an airliner to kidnap a senator. The latest round of talks started in 2012 in Havana and culminated on August 24, 2016 with a deal.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/E. Abramovich
50 years of conflict
"We have reached a final, integral and definitive agreement" to end the conflict and build a stable, lasting peace, the government of President Juan Manuel Santos and the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia said in a joint statement. In June, the negotiators had already announced a cease-fire agreement and a blueprint for how the estimated 7,000 to 8,000 fighters will demobilize.
Image: Reuters/A. Meneghini
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Both arrangements will last until 2026, at which point FARC's political movement will have to prove its strength through the ballot box without the set allotment of seats.
The deal also addresses land reform, cooperation against drug trafficking, compensation for victims and transitional justice system for crimes committed during the conflict.
The deal does not include a smaller leftist group, the National Liberation Army (ELN).
Latin America's longest running conflict has drawn in the FARC, leftist groups, right-wing paramilitaries, government forces, drug traffickers and the United States.
The conflict has claimed more than 250,000 lives, left 45,000 missing and displaced nearly seven million people.
