Graffiti in Nasa, Colombia. Demotix/Joana Toro. All rights reserved.
2016 will be remembered as the year Colombia finally managed to put an end to a seemingly endless and bleeding conflict that lasted for more than 50 years. Looking back at the numerous actors, from the delegation of negotiators of both sides – from the Cuban and Norwegian guarantors, to the international observers and advisors, to civil society forums and organisations – the process demonstrated an amazing capacity for navigation through enormous complexities and the delivery of a final agreement, setting up an entrenched conflict that seemed, for so many years and decades, irresolvable.
Now with the perspective of hindsight, the Havana peace negotiations came to a successful end, despite the countless obstacles and detractors that were laid down by those determined to derail the process. There were a number of motivations behind the tenacious opposition to the negotiations, some of which might be seen as legitimate by a significant proportion of the population who found it difficult to accept that the government was sat at the negotiating table with a group that had brought so much blood and suffering to the country. But most were, and remain, questionable political and founded in party interests.
