Weekly Report - 23 July 2015 (WR-15-29)

On 20 July the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc), Colombia’s main guerrilla group, began a new unilateral ceasefire. This is the sixth unilateral ceasefire called by the Farc since the launch of its current peace talks with the Colombian government in Cuba in late 2012. It will either hold for four months after which, if sufficient progress in Cuba has been made, Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos will declare a bilateral ceasefire, or it will fail, along with the peace process. If the tough recent rhetoric from Santos is not enough to convince the Farc of the peril the process faces, the plummeting public support for the talks is clear for all to see.

In announcing the unilateral ceasefire, the Farc said that it would only endure for one month but it is expected to extend this, particularly as Santos responded by announcing a reduction in the intensity of military operations to ‘de-escalate’ the internal armed conflict. There is always the danger that another serious incident in the internal armed conflict could impact the talks again, as in recent months, not least because the Farc made clear that all of its guerrilla units would be able to exercise “legitimate self-defence” if they come under attack from the military. But both sides are now fully conscious of just how precarious the prospects for peace have become. Public confidence in the process is at an all-time low, falling away sharply since Farc guerrillas killed 11 soldiers (it claimed in ‘self-defence’) in April, during its last unilateral ceasefire [WR-15-15].

End of preview - This article contains approximately 257 words.

Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article

Not a Subscriber?

Choose from one of the following options

• Subscribe
• Sign up for a one-time, 14-day trial