The Havana Accord refers to the Final Agreement to End the Armed Conflict and Build a Stable and Lasting Peace signed between the Government of Colombia, led by President Juan Manuel Santos, and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP), commanded by Rodrigo Londoño ("Timochenko"). Formal negotiations opened in Oslo in October 2012 and continued in Havana, Cuba, where Cuba and Norway served as guarantor states and Venezuela and Chile as accompanying countries.
The accord is organized around six substantive points:
- Comprehensive rural reform (land restitution and development)
- Political participation, including guarantees for a future FARC political party
- End of the conflict, covering bilateral ceasefire, disarmament, and reintegration
- Solution to the illicit drugs problem, including crop substitution
- Victims, establishing the Sistema Integral de Verdad, Justicia, Reparación y No Repetición — notably the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), a Truth Commission, and a Unit for the Search for Disappeared Persons
- Implementation, verification, and endorsement
A first version was signed in Cartagena on 26 September 2016 but rejected by a narrow margin in a national plebiscite on 2 October 2016 (50.2% "No"). A renegotiated text was signed at the Teatro Colón in Bogotá on 24 November 2016 and ratified by Congress. Santos received the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize for the effort.
Implementation has been uneven. The FARC disarmed under UN Mission verification in 2017 and reconstituted as a political party (initially Fuerza Alternativa Revolucionaria del Común, later Comunes), holding guaranteed congressional seats. However, dissident factions ("disidencias") rearmed, killings of social leaders and ex-combatants persisted, and the JEP's transitional justice rulings remain politically contested. The accord did not include the ELN, with which separate negotiations have continued intermittently.
Example
In November 2016, after voters rejected the initial text, President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC commander "Timochenko" signed a revised Havana Accord at Bogotá's Teatro Colón, which Congress then ratified.
Frequently asked questions
In the 2 October 2016 plebiscite, 50.2% of voters chose 'No', driven by opposition (led by former President Álvaro Uribe) to perceived leniency in transitional justice and political participation provisions for FARC members.
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