“Give Peace a Chance”? Explaining Colombia’s (Failed) Peace Process with the FARC

Colombia is home to Latin America’s longest ongoing internal conflict. Since 1964 an array of Marxist insurgencies have been in violent confrontation with the state. The involvement of right-wing paramilitary forces and narco-traffickers has further exacerbated the fighting, claiming over 250,000 lives and displacing millions more. Nevertheless, scores of hopeful Colombians went to the polls on Sunday, October 2, 2016 to cast their votes in a national plebiscite to ratify a peace accord between the country’s largest insurgent group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia; FARC) and the government. The resultant, razor thin victory for opponents of accord (49.8% in favor and 50.2% opposed) even shocked the “no” campaign’s main proponent, former president and current senator Álvaro Uribe.