Thread for Jorge to tell us his feelings on the FARC deal

[bart]

And, go.

[Jorge]

It is bad

[bart]

Alright, well thanks.

[E.H. Ruddock]

I thought we had a Colombia thread, but maybe that was Venezuela. It's all the same down there

[bart]

Down old South America way.

[bart]

Mall punk bands from 1995 = 50 thousand words
Historic peace deal to try and end a bloody five-decade insurgency in your home country = 3 words

[Jorge]

Last week Colombia signed a historic peace agreement. Colombians will now vote on whether or not we agree with it. Several people have asked me about it so I wanted to share some resources/info on it. Peace is great, however the agreement itself is far from optimal for the following reasons:
1) The most controversial sections (immunity for FARC terrorists, financial support from Colombian taxpayers and no need to return money earned through kidnapping, drug trade and violence) were already agreed to and not subject to voting.
2) FARC gets guaranteed seats in congress. Less than 20K assasins get several times the number of seats than all of Colombia's native tribes and afro-Colombians combined (these account for 13% of the population).
3) Several elements of the FARC (including one of the largest blocks) have already said they would not lay down their weapons.
4) The ELN has already taken control of drug trading routes and lands the FARC has vacated. It is likely they will use the lands and funds to recruit former FARC rebels. This is not an end to violence, it is a transfer of power.
5) The terms of this agreement set a terrible precedent for other terrorist groups who wish to negotiate with our government.
6) All elected officials (including the current president) are free to campaign in favor or against this agreement. This makes it legal for the president to use tax payers' money to convince the public to agree with him.
7) The president is accelerating the referendum which will give him extraordinary powers so it passes before his term is over (his approval rate is about 25%).

I'll be honest: the idea of my home country finally putting an end to this long and ridiculous conflict makes me happy. But the deal itself is pretty problematic, and I anticipate having a lot of complicated feelings when the results of the public's voting come through.

[Jorge]

Mall punk bands from 1995 = 50 thousand words
Historic peace deal to try and end a bloody five-decade insurgency in your home country = 3 words

Motherfucker I wrote a whole thing about it on Facebook

[bart]

Besides ELN, this seems like the perfect way to allow the paramilitaries and Mexican cartels to expand their influence.

[Norah]

What were they fighting for to begin with?

[bart]

Mall punk bands from 1995 = 50 thousand words
Historic peace deal to try and end a bloody five-decade insurgency in your home country = 3 words

Motherfucker I wrote a whole thing about it on Facebook

Jorge control yourself!!!!!

[ABNorman]

Well, farc, I knew this thread was coming.

[bart]

Shakira has not tweeted about this at all.

[ABNorman]

Shakira has not tweeted about this at all.

Her hips don't lie, but they do omit.

[simple schoolboy]

I have a coworker who was criticsl of this deal a couple months ago, well before this was announced as a done deal. Was there a cease-fire that preceeded this? If I understood him correctly, his complaint was that it effectively ceeded control of large areas of the country to the guerillas, some of whom are the people that kidnapped several members of his family.

I can understand the government not wanting the perfect to be the enemy of the good, but FARC doesnt seem to be in a position to demand the concessions that they've gotten.

[Jorge]

People keep congratulating me sincerely on Colombia's peace deal. It's hard not to sound like an asshole buzzkill when I'm like "wellllllll..."

[Jorge]

Public voting on the peace deal today. With about 94% of votes counted, it's 50.01% against, 49.99% for. This is nuts.

[Norah]

War: on

[Jorge]

"Against" just won. Yay... ?

[Rangi Guy]

What does it mean for all the rebels leaving the jungle?

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/8 ... the-jungle