Colombia's government and FARC guerrillas will sign a new peace accord on Thursday, after a previous agreement to end their half-century-old war was defeated in a referendum, both parties said. The new, revised accord will be submitted to Congress for approval, rather than put to another referendum, they added.
The President of Colombia made the announcement Monday following an urgent trip to the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland, US, on his doctors' advice last week due to disturbing test results that would indicate a relapse of his prostate cancer which was removed surgically in 2011.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has travelled to the United States for medical exams after follow-up tests for a 2012 case of prostate cancer came back abnormal, he said. Santos, this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner for his efforts to reach a peace deal with Marxist rebels, announced the trip in a brief statement as he left a clinic in Bogota where he has undergone regular check-ups since having surgery to remove a small prostate tumor four years ago.
Colombia's government and its largest rebel group announced a new, modified peace accord Saturday, after voters rejected an earlier deal in a referendum. The government and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) - a Marxist guerrilla group - said in a joint statement they had incorporated proposals from various groups in the new deal.
A majority of South American presidents would prefer to see former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the White House, while a few believe whoever wins will make not much of a difference for the continent. Nevertheless be it Hillary or Trump there is mostly respect for US institutions.
The UK will increase its contribution to prosperity programs in Colombia by up to £25 million, supporting economic development and opening up investment and export opportunities worth in the region of £6 billion to the UK economy.
Tuesday saw the first ever state visit by a Colombian president to the UK. Nobel Peace Prize laureate, President Juan Manuel Santos is visiting for three days as an official guest of Her Majesty The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. He will have a working lunch with Prime Minister Theresa May, visit Belfast and attend events at Mansion House, the Natural History Museum and his old university, the LSE.
Colombia's Democratic Center party founded by former president Alvaro Uribe criticized on Sunday The New York Times for a recent editorial accusing the ex head of government of blocking the peace process in the country and calling on him to act as a true statesman. The party said that the NYT editorial constitutes an offence to the millions of Colombians who voted against the terms of the peace accord between the government and the main guerrilla group, FARC.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said Wednesday peace with the FARC rebels is “close,” but his top opponent demanded an overhaul of a “weak” deal rejected by voters in a referendum.
Colombia's president tried Monday to keep alive an agreement to end Latin America's longest-running war after a shocking rejection by voters, but his opponents made clear their price for joining the effort will be steep.