Biggest obstacle to peace in Colombia may not be FARC, but an ex-president
Biggest obstacle to peace in Colombia may not be FARC, but an ex-president
By Nick Miroff
The Washington Post
Published: July 7, 2016
PRADERA, Colombia — The young men in pastel-colored Polo shirts pulled up to the square in this war-battered town and jumped out, armed only with pens and clipboards.
Their leader and political idol, former president Alvaro Uribe, had called for a signature-collecting campaign of "civil resistance" to the government of President Juan Manuel Santos, who is nearing a peace accord with leftist rebels that would end 52 years of fighting.
The preppy activists didn't mince words. "Do you support Santos's deal with FARC?" shouted Jaime Arizabaleta, a conservative 25-year-old city council member from the nearby city of Cali. "Doesn't it bother you that those criminals won't see a single day in a prison cell?" Old men sipping rum in the shade straightened up to listen.
"Do you think it's fair that Santos will let all those FARC gangsters keep all their drug money, while families here struggle to survive?" he prodded. Hands reached for the clipboard to sign.
More:
http://www.stripes.com/news/americas/biggest-obstacle-to-peace-in-colombia-may-not-be-farc-but-an-ex-president-1.417951
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http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016163004
