"Who doesn't long for peace! But this peace is achieved with incentives that look towards a better future, creating jobs, strengthening culture … When I speak with the guerrillas, they are also fed up, they want to sleep in peace, they are also human beings, they also need peace. The army and police also need peace." Interview with a key actor in Macarena-Guaviare region (south-east Colombia)
Members of Colombian indigenous communities. Raul Arboleda/AFP/Getty Images
If the Havana agreement is signed and approved (the probability of this coming to pass is high), we will witness a new attempt at rapprochement between the Colombian public institutions and certain regions of the country with which they have had little dealings in the past: regions precisely where the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – the FARC - have greater presence and activity. This will not be the first attempt at rapprochment: beginning in the 1960's, different programmes have been implemented with this ambition in mind. However, it seems that these programmes have been more concerned with bringing a predefined offer to the table than to understanding local demands. For that reason, it is extremely important to consider the expectations and the resources of these regions, when faced with an ever-closer scenario of post-conflict.
