Colombia, FARC rebels sign historic bilateral ceasefire agreement
- 8 years ago
Colombia's government and the country's leftist FARC rebels signed a historic ceasefire deal on Thursday that brings them tantalisingly close to ending the last major leftist insurgency in Latin America after more than half a century of war.
The accord, capping three years of talks in Havana, paves the way for a final peace deal to end a conflict that was born in the 1960s out of frustration with deep socio-economic inequalities and that outlived other major uprisings in the Americas.
The rebels will lay down their arms within 180 days of a final agreement, said Rodolfo Benitez, a Cuban mediator in the talks who presented the agreement in a ceremony also attended by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Cuba's President Raul Castro and Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro.
The accord, capping three years of talks in Havana, paves the way for a final peace deal to end a conflict that was born in the 1960s out of frustration with deep socio-economic inequalities and that outlived other major uprisings in the Americas.
The rebels will lay down their arms within 180 days of a final agreement, said Rodolfo Benitez, a Cuban mediator in the talks who presented the agreement in a ceremony also attended by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Cuba's President Raul Castro and Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro.