- Title: Colombian students march for peace with FARC
- Date: 6th October 2016
- Summary: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (OCTOBER 5, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE GATHERED, HOLDING SIGN, "I WANT PEACE, I WANT LOVE, I WANT AGREEMENTS," AND WHITE AND COLOMBIAN FLAGS DEMONSTRATORS WEARING MASKS OF COLOMBIAN PRESIDENTS ALVARO URIBE AND JUAN MANUEL SANTOS, KISSING WOMAN HOLDING CANDLE WIDE OF GATHERING ANOTHER WOMAN HOLDING CANDLE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) UNIVERSITY STUDENT, CARLOS FILIPO, SAYING: "We are asking that the peace process be sped up. What's been accomplished has been fragile, as we saw with the news we saw yesterday that the bilateral ceasefire is already not a definite. We want peace that's not politicised, but that a peace for the citizens of Colombia, not for the political parties, not for the president, but for all Colombians. Because we are a political force." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE MARCHING WITH WHITE FLAGS, COLOMBIAN FLAGS VARIOUS OF DEMONSTRATORS HOLDING CANDLES, HOLDING SIGN THAT READS. "NOT EVEN ONE STEP BACKWARDS," AMONG OTHER SIGNS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) UNIVERSITY STUDENT, LAURA PEDRAZA, SAYING: "Well, this is a symbolic gesture that shows that as much as the students are a big part of the country, we are tired of war and we want peace. We are tired of the peace being associated with particular parties, because peace belongs to no one, and this is a symbol that silence, and this flame, which represents that hope is not dead, that we want peace in spite of everything." VARIOUS OF YOUTHS WITH CANDLES SIGN THAT READS, "AGREEMENT NOW"
- Embargoed: 21st October 2016 02:49
- Keywords: peace Colombia march students negotiations FARC
- Location: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA
- City: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA
- Country: Colombia
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Military Conflicts
- Reuters ID: LVA00152QCFNR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Hordes of Colombian students marched on downtown Bogota on Wednesday (October 05) to call for peace with the FARC after a deal to end violence with the rebels floundered in a recent election.
The students dressed in white, held candles and held both white flags and the Colombian flag at the rally.
The peace deal with Colombia's government and Marxist guerrillas was four years in the making and sparked international joy of an end to fighting, even talk of a Nobel Peace Prize.
Now it is now in limbo with supporters of the agreement left trying to revive a plan to end their 52-year war after voters rejected the hard-negotiated deal as too lenient on the rebels in a shock referendum result that plunged the nation into uncertainty.
Students expressed their sympathies at the rally.
"We are asking that the peace process be sped up. What's been accomplished has been fragile, as we saw with the news we saw yesterday that the bilateral ceasefire is already not a definite. We want peace that's not politicised, but that a peace for the citizens of Colombia, not for the political parties, not for the president, but for all Colombians. Because we are a political force," said student Carlos Filipo.
They noted the symbolism of their attire.
"Well, this is a symbolic gesture that shows that as much as the students are a big part of the country, we are tired of war and we want peace. We are tired of the peace being associated with particular parties, because peace belongs to no one, and this is a symbol that silence, and this flame, which represents that hope is not dead, that we want peace in spite of everything," said student, Laura Pedraza.
"No" voters, who narrowly won Sunday's (October 02) plebiscite by 50.21 percent, want assurances the rebels will hand in cash from drugs, spend time in jail, and earn their political future at the ballot box rather than get guaranteed, unelected seats in Congress.
Despite the significance of the election, voter turnout was only 37 percent, perhaps partly owing to torrential rain through the country.
Any renegotiated peace accord now seems to depend on whether the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) could accept tougher sanctions against them.
Members of the opposition, headed by powerful former president Alvaro Uribe, will meet with the government to try and salvage the accord.
The Colombian government and the FARC have vowed to maintain a ceasefire and keep working together, even though that could be another lengthy and complicated process.
Latin America's longest conflict has killed 220,000 people, displaced millions and brought atrocities on all sides.
The peace accord offered the possibility that rebel fighters would hand in their weapons to the United Nations, confess their crimes and form a political party rooted in their Marxist ideology.
The FARC, which began as a peasant revolt in 1964, would have been able to compete in the 2018 presidential and legislative elections and have 10 unelected congressional seats guaranteed through 2026.
Regions still riven by the conflict, including poor areas along the Pacific and Caribbean coasts, voted resoundingly in favour of the deal, but formerly violent interior areas pacified during the Uribe presidency largely backed the "No" camp. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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