After three years of negotiation, a peace deal between the Colombian government and leftist guerrilla movement FARC looks possible within weeks, resolving one of the world’s longest-standing armed conflicts.
The accord is premised on a fundamental trade: In exchange for FARC renouncing violence, demobilizing, disarming and dismantling the illicit drug trafficking network that has funded its insurgency, the state will address the grievances that first bred conflict a half century ago.
Simply put, that means rural development — lots of it, and quickly. The first point of the six-point agreement lays out plans for vast agricultural land restitution, rural infrastructure projects, the extension of public services to the countryside, and a host of other poverty-reducing measures in far-flung towns and villages. Victims are also promised millions in reparations and socio-economic aid.