Colombian peace process enters uncharted waters
Big gestures on either side have advanced the peace process between the Colombian government and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) guerrilla group further than any previous effort in the history of the 50-year armed conflict. The government negotiating team in Cuba struck a deal with Farc counterparts on 7 March to work together to clear anti-personnel landmines and other improvised explosives placed by the guerrillas. In return for what he described as “a hugely important step”, unprecedented indeed, President Juan Manuel Santos responded days later with three of his own gestures: he ordered the military to halt aerial bombing of Farc camps, the prelude to a bilateral ceasefire; he cancelled the extradition to the US of a guerrilla and a paramilitary; and he instructed the military to intensify attacks on other ‘illegal armed groups’.
Every department in Colombia, except the San Andrés y Providencia archi- pelago, has some landmines and other explosive devices. “There are more hectares of landmines sown than coffee,” President Santos said. In total it is calculated that anti-personnel mines pose a degree of risk in half of Colombia’s 688 municipalities, 63% of national territory, claiming 11,043 victims dead and wounded over the last 15 years, 40% of them civilians. Only Afghanistan has a higher casualty rate from landmines.