Weekly Report - 20 October 2022 (WR-22-42)

Riding a wave of optimism and a sustained honeymoon period with high favourability ratings Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s first leftist president, plans to solve 70-odd years of conflict in his four-year term. At least, this is his high-risk, high-reward plan of ‘total peace’. Petro, an economist and former M19 guerrilla, has his sights set on multiple peace agreements with as many of the 26 criminal groups active in Colombia as possible – as set out in a project presented to the lower chamber of congress in August – to achieve what many consider to be unthinkable: a lasting, inclusive, and sustainable peace in Colombia. This week a statement from the Segunda Marquetalia, one of the two big dissident groups to emerge from the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc), confirmed its determination to participate in the talks.