Henrique Capriles, Venezuelan opposition leader (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

The meeting of Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles and Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos has deteriorated the relations between the countries.

Capriles is touring Latin America with the aim of garnering support for his contest of the April election results, in which Hugo Chávez’s chosen successor, Nicolás Maduro, was the official victor.

Venezuela believes that the meeting is an attempt to undermine the bilateral relations.

Venezuelan foreign minister, Elías Jaua, expressed his “deep regret” at the visit, stating “President Santos has taken a step towards derailment of the good relationship he had with Venezuela”.

María Ángela Holguín, Colombian foreign minister, stated the in receiving Capriles, the Santos government had decided to “address the issues with the government of Venezuela in a direct way”.

Jorge Eliécer Guevara, Colombian opposition senator, added: ”Colombia is able to act in a sovereign way and the government has the authority to receive any officials it wants!”

After the tumultuous years when Álvaro Uribe and Hugo Chávez were heads of state, the arrival of Juan Manuel Santos marked the beginning of “a sort of honeymoon between Colombia and Venezuela”, which some analysts suspect is now over.

Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), resting in the countryside. (Photo: Phoenix Diaz)

Representatives from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Colombian government announced yesterday that they have signed a keynote agreement on land reform.

The accord is a big step forward for the on-going peace negotiations in Havana, Cuba between the rebel group and the government of President Juan Manuel Santos, as land reform is the first of six main issues on the agenda for discussion.

The agreement comes after nearly six months of talks on the subject.

A press release ratified by both parties stated that the accord facilitates the “start of radical transformations of the rural and agrarian reality of Colombia with fairness and democracy”.

President Santos applauded yesterday’s accord, commenting on Twitter that the land reform measure is a breakthrough for the peace talks and a “fundamental step in Havana towards a full agreement that will put an end to half a century of conflict”.

Iván Márquez, chief negotiator of the FARC, explained: “This historical recognition is felt by the rural and impoverished communities and is a flag in the wind in our hands … at the negotiation table.”

However, Márquez added that some of the points of the accord must be discussed again before negotiations end. He commented, “nothing is agreed upon until everything has been agreed upon”, referring to discussions still to come on other polemic topics in the peace talks expected to finish by August.

Land reform has been a fundamental issue for both the government and the FARC even before the peace talks began. Land disputes were one of the primary issues that the Marxist-leaning rebel group took on as early as 1964.

Now that the land reform issue has been decided, government and FARC negotiators will move discussions to the political participation of the rebel forces, the fight against drug trafficking, and an end to the conflict more generally with respect to victim compensation.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. (Photo courtesy of Ministerio TIC Colombia on Flickr)

Thousands of farmers in Colombia are protesting against the country’s Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) in place that harm the domestic potato market.

The farmers are rising up against FTAs signed under President Juan Manuel Santos with several different countries that set Colombia to import approximately 20 million tons of potatoes annually, to the detriment of nearly 120,000 local producers. Protesters are demanding better protection for national producers so that the country’s potato industry might be able to compete with imported goods.

Protests began yesterday, 7^th May, in the departments of Boyacá, Cundinamarca, and Santander in the centre of the country, and in Cauca and Nariño in the southwest.

The groups are demanding that the Colombian government introduce subsidies for potato producers in order to cut out-of-pocket costs that raise local prices and hurt domestic producers in the face of international competition in the market.

Protest leader Israel Rodríguez stated: “We are losing competitiveness with the new politics of the state,” in reference to the FTAs approved by the Santos government.

Agricultural Minister Juan Camilo Restrepo is to meet with protest leaders to reach an agreement and end the road blocks set up by the protesters. The ministry has assured the farmers that it will support them by looking into all possible means for lowering their production costs, although it hopes to avoid granting subsidies.

One protester was reportedly injured in an attempted roadblock, and traffic has slowed throughout the country with the presence of  protests on the streets. Colombian police have intervened at the roadblock sites and have begun to redirect traffic, in certain instances using teargas and water to clear out protesters.

Over the past few years Colombia has signed FTAs with several countries, including South Korea the United States in the past 12 months.

Juan Manuel Santos by Center for American Progress, on Flickr

Juan Manuel Santos, Colombia’s president, is optimistic about the peace dialogue that has been going since November between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). He manifested his confidence in reaching an agreement before the end of the year while holding a meeting with his ministers.

“This is a peace process that concerns the whole world (…) it’s not just about Colombia (…) we have been receiving support for this peace process (…) from Europe, Asia, China, and Russia” said Santos.

“We are thus optimistic and we will reach a peace agreement in this country,” he added after his ministers’ meeting in Bogota on 19th March.

The negotiations between the Colombian government and the FARC started on the 19th November 2012.

According to the president, the government is receiving support from many political parties, which demonstrates that the peace process is on the right path.

Iván Márquez, the head of the delegation of the guerrillas, suggested earlier the possibility of reaching agreements with the government on the agricultural issue – which was the first subject discussed in the meeting.

Santos also commented on the health reforms, the infrastructure, and the statutory law for military courts, which will be the priorities of the new legislative mandate that was initiated on Tuesday 19th March.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced yesterday that he will initiate “an agenda of transformation” in the 16 months he has left in office.

This announcement comes as Santos continues peace negotiations with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Congress announced last week that a resolution will be made with the armed revolutionary group by August.

“Our vision is of a just, modern, and safe Colombia,” Santos said, according to El Tiempo.

He added that disarming FARC is not enough and that the system must change in order to avoid similar situations in the future.

“Some people continue to be stuck in the past, selling us a vision of a Colombia condemned to another 50 years of violence, paralysed by fear and without the capacity to imagine anything more than what it has always been,” he said. “However we, the large majority, believe in our future.”

Officials and Santos finalised this new “comprehensive government strategy” in a meeting Monday.

Beginning today, union directors and business owners will begin meeting to design and begin this project that Santos called “an emergency plan for growth and productivity.”

Beyond lowering rates of violence in the country, the president announced goals of a more “modern Colombia,” including plans to build 317 kilometres of highways this year.

Santos added that he is “committed… to making it so that Colombia can say ‘we have peace’ before leaving the government.”

Senador Roy Barreras by RedPaTo2, on Flickr

The Colombian Congress announced yesterday that the government should conclude peace negotiations with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) by August.

Roy Barreras, president of the Colombian Senate, requested that the government of Juan Manuel Santos and FARC representatives sign a final peace accord in August of this year at the latest. He called for this advancement in the peace talks in a press conference yesterday during which he cited a statement detailing the request. Five congressional members had signed the statement on Monday in Havana, where they had been meeting with FARC negotiators.

The Congress urged the government and insurgent group to accelerate the progressing negotiations as a means to avoid any interference that might be caused by the upcoming elections in the first few months of 2014. Barreras explained, “This commission calls the attention of the government and the FARC about the fact that despite the good intentions of both parties, it is imperative to take into account the timing (of the talks) for the legislature and for the electoral process.”

Barreras also asserted in the press conference that the Congress will not ratify any agreement between now and the deadline five months away, “unless we are signing the treaty to fully end the internal armed conflict.”

Next year, Colombia will hold congressional elections in March, followed by the presidential election in May. Thus, if the August deadline is reached, Congress can ratify the accord before the country becomes immersed in electoral campaigns.

Barreras made the announcement upon his return from a trip to Havana, where the peace talks are being held. In yesterday’s statement, the head of the Senate confirmed that concrete advances have been made in the discussions, including the drafting of documents clarifying land issues. He added that the groups are now prepared to advance into discussions about a guarantee of political participation for the guerrilla force, another major point of the negotiations.

The Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) announced on Sunday the end of the two-month unilateral ceasefire they had held since peace talks with the government began. The end of the ceasefire came with attacks on infrastructure targets in the southern district of Putumayo.

This photograph of Iván Márquez (on right) was part of the proof that the Colombian government turned over the Organisation of the American States. (Photo courtesy of Globovisión, on Flickr)

“With pain in my heart, I have to admit that we’re going into a phase of war no one in this country wants,” said FARC chief negotiator Iván Márquez before entering the last session of the peace negotiations in Havana.

FARC announced a temporary ceasefire between 20th November 2012 and 20th January 2013, to facilitate the negotiations between the guerrilla group and the government that started in Havana last November. Since the beginning of the ceasefire, FARC has demanded a bilateral truce to guarantee a period of peace while the negotiations are held, but the government has refused. Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos stated that “we are on an offensive positon” and added that “all precautions are being taken, all the measures to ensure these actions [by the FARC] are neutralised.”

Santos indicated that the ceasefire had been “relative” as some violent actions were carried out over the last two months. According to the Ombudsman, FARC carried out 57 armed actions during the ceasefire, against civilian and military targets. However, Santos admitted that during the last two months the number of military personnel dead or wounded had diminished.

The latest attacks, the first after the end of the ceasefire, took place in the district of Putumayo, where an oil pipeline was bombed in three different spots. The explosions caused a fire and an oil spill. An electric tower was also attacked in the district.

The peace talks will continue in Havana, where five main issues are being discussed: agricultural policy, guarantees for the exercise of political opposition, an end to the conflict, drug trafficking, and compensation for victims.

Nicaragua’s most famous revolutionary, Augusto Sandino, said that “sovereignty is not discussed, it’s defended with guns in hand.” This was also once the view of the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN), the left-wing political party currently in charge of the country; but discussion is exactly what Nicaragua is seeking to settle a current dispute with Colombia.

The ruling at the ICJ (UN photos)

A ruling last month by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – which resides in The Hague, Netherlands – granted Nicaragua almost 100,000 square kilometres of maritime territory in Caribbean waters that were previously under the control of Colombia.

The dispute has been a long time in the making. Back in 2001, the Nicaraguan government brought the case to the ICJ, alleging that shipping vessels from their country were being harassed by the Colombian navy in a part of the Caribbean claimed by both countries.

In 1928 the ‘Esguerra-Bárcenas Treaty’ gave Colombia the Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina; however Nicaragua argues that it did not establish maritime borders. According to the Central American nation, since that date Colombia has been intruding more and more on Nicaraguan waters and has almost halved its territory.

The Sandinistas of Nicaragua have argued for the past three decades that the entire treaty should be void because it was signed when the country was under military intervention and pen was put to paper due to of US pressure.

In 2007 the ICJ preliminarily ruled that the archipelago was Colombian territory, which quieted the calls for the Treaty to be void; however the ruling did not resolve the dispute over maritime borders.

That decision came last month, on 19th November, when the Court voted in favour of Nicaragua.

The response from Colombia was dismissive and aggressive. President Juan Manuel Santos stated: “Colombia emphatically rejects the ruling by the Court”.

Comments from Nicaragua on the ruling were celebratory. During a parade to commemorate the decision attended by leading political figures and leaders from the last two decades, President Daniel Ortega thanked the ICJ and put pressure on the Colombian government to accept the new maritime boundaries.

“I am certain that Colombia will recognise the ruling by the International Court of Justice, because there is no other way forward; there is only one path and that’s to comply with the ruling and respect Nicaragua’s historic right,” he said.

But direct dialogue between the two leaders was not forthcoming until 1st December, when both met for a 20-minute meeting during the inauguration of the new Mexican president.

Ortega commented after the meeting: “The two parties are totally discarding the use of force.”

He went on to give further assurances of peace, stating that Nicaraguan and Columbian vessels were in “permanent communication” and that his government would continue to respect the established fishing rights of those living on the Colombian archipelago, including the rights of the indigenous islanders.

His Colombian counterpart was also quick to dismiss the possibility of violence. “No one wants bellicose actions”, Santos said. But warned that he would continue to “defend, with total conviction, the rights of the islanders and all our compatriots.”

The boundaries in question (UN photos)

Could Shots be Fired?

Whilst there is the possibility for military conflict, especially as some Colombian navy vessels have failed to leave Nicaragua’s new territory; it appears that many of the comments from the Colombian government are nothing more than knee-jerk reactions and nationalistic rhetoric. But if violence did break out, it would not be an even fight.

According to an article that appeared in the Nicaraguan daily La Prensa, Nicaragua has a defence budget of US$67 million, as compared to the US$14 billion Colombia spends annually. Furthermore, the South American nation has a navy of 34,964 personnel; Nicaragua has just 800.

Or to put it another way; Colombia’s annual defence expenditure is greater than Nicaragua’s whole GDP.

Indeed, this disparity led one Colombian columnist for El Tiempo to write: “If Colombia doesn’t want to remove its warships from the zone, Nicaragua will not be able to force them out.”

But days after the ICJ ruling was made, the Nicaraguan National Assembly passed a motion to allow the armed forces of the United States, Russia, and Cuba to enter their new maritime territory for six months in order to participate in joint activities against drug trafficking.

Furthermore, reactions from the US were acquiescent, a positive sign for Nicaragua since Colombia is a key ally of the US in Latin America. Phyllis Powers, the US Ambassador to Nicaragua, said, “Really, this is an issue between Nicaragua and Colombia and my government is confident that they will resolve it between them.”

Meanwhile, senior White House national security advisor for the Western Hemisphere, Ricardo Zuñiga, echoed the view of Powers: “The ruling and the dispute are bilateral issues between Colombia and Nicaragua on which we do not take a position.”

Pan-American Pains

Even if violence does not break out, the dispute will still have rattled Latin America.

In response to the ruling by the ICJ, Colombia’s president announced that his country is pulling out of the Bogotá Pact, which was signed by most American nations in 1948 with the intention of settling disputes peacefully by bringing cases to international institutions (such as placing jurisdiction within the ICJ).

According to Santos, “The borders between nations cannot be in the hands of a court of law. They must be drawn by agreement between the countries involved.”

However, Secretary General of the Organisation of American States (OAS), Jose Miguel Insulza, views the decision to leave the Pact as troubling for the Pan-American system. “What I have always tried to achieve is that the great part of the Latin American and Caribbean nations and also those of North America subscribe to and ratify the treaties of the OAS, and for that reason an exit is always prejudicial; certainly there is always damage,” he said.

Indeed, several Latin American countries have come out and expressed their disapproval of Colombia’s response. The presidents of both Peru and Chile have been vocal in the stance that the ICJ’s ruling must be followed.

This dispute could have a further destabilising effect on the region since many Latin American nations have their own cases currently being presided over by the ICJ. Should other countries leave the Bogotá Pact if the court rules against them, then this could greatly endanger future conflict resolution mechanisms.

A Pyrrhic Victory?

But this dispute is not just about sovereignty and nationalistic chest-beating.

Providence Island in the San Andrés Archipelago (photo by Luis Barreto)

Thanks to the ICJ ruling, Nicaragua has seen its exclusive economic zone in the Caribbean double in size. This means that it will be able to extend its fishing activities further afield. There is also rumored to be sizeable, untapped oil reserves in the new territory.

However, the victory for Nicaragua might turn out to be pyrrhic, since with more power comes more responsibility.

Even with the assistance of international navies, Nicaragua is now in charge of Caribbean waters used to traffic drugs northwards from South America. This changing of the guard might see traffickers rubbing their hands with glee as responsibility has passed from Latin America’s largest navy to one of its smallest.

Roberto Cajina, an expert on Nicaraguan defence, said: “Our victory in The Hague was a bitter fruit because Nicaragua does not have the capacity to guarantee permanent security of its newly acquired maritime zone.”

Indeed, the decision could see Nicaragua forced into the escalating the ‘drug war’ that plagues other Central American nations, but which it has remained relatively distant from. Nicaraguan officials have boasted about their country being a ‘firewall’ in this problem.

But now it will have to go on the offensive instead of the defensive, and considerably change its military planning, that according to Cajina lacks “strategy” and “vision”. He draws attention to the recent decision by the government to spend US$244 million of a limited budget on a satellite from China and Russian-made assault vehicles that can only patrol rivers, not seas.

Most commentators expect Colombia to calm down in the coming weeks and seek a proper resolution to the dispute. Nicaragua will also be hoping for a speedy resolution, especially a peaceful one to remove the Colombian vessels that are still in the country’s lost territory.

Tensions over economic development and foreign investment ran high as representatives of both the Colombian government and Marxist insurgency group the Revolutionary Armed Forced of Colombia (FARC) sat down to peace talks for the first time in more than a decade.

“In Colombia there is no national economy; those who export oil, coal, ferronickel [an alloy of iron and nickel], and gold and benefit from it are the multinational companies, so prosperity belongs to them and the sell-out government officials, not to the country,” said Head of FARC’s delegation Iván Márquez.

Humberto de la Calle, head of Colombian government representatives, refused to respond directly, stating, “I want to reiterate, speaking of the mining energy matter, that we are not discussing the economic development model, we are not discussing foreign investment.” He added that FARC must disarm, enter politics, and win elections before being able to debate such topics and that currently, “that does not belong on the table”.

The peace negotiations have five established items on their agenda: rural development, protection of the right of political opposition, disarmament, drug trafficking, and conciliation for victims of the conflict.

A government source later described the tone of the meeting as “cordial and respectful”.

President Juan Manuel Santos’ administration and FARC have been secretly negotiating since 2010. This week’s meetings, held in Hurdel, Norway, just outside of Oslo, are the preliminary leadup to peace talks scheduled for 15^th November in Havana, Cuba.

The death of several of its key leaders and high desertion rates have weakened the FARC in past years, but the Colombian government has nevertheless been unable to claim victory over the rebel army.

“This is a moment of hope, it is not a naïve hope, I know there are enormous difficulties, we have a great deal of optimism, but it is moderated optimism,” De la Calle said at the press conference held today.

The conflict between official government forces and the guerrilla fighters has stormed for more than 50 years. Thousands of Colombians have lost their lives and over two million have been displaced.

Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos today provided new details about the renewed peace talks between the government and leftist guerilla group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Santos confirmed that the peace talks would formally begin in Oslo, Norway, in October. The two sides have been conducting discreet negotiations in Havana since May, under the auspices of the Cuban, Venezuelan, and Norwegian governments.

“Today, I want to announce that the meetings have led to an accord that establishes a road map to end once and for all the violence between children of the same country,” said Santos, in a televised speech to the nation.

“We are convinced that there is a real opportunity to end the armed internal conflict,” said Santos. However, the president added that “this agreement does not mean we have reached peace yet, or that it is final.”

Several previous attempts to reach a peaceful end to the conflict stretching back to 1964 have failed, with some accusing FARC of exploiting government gestures of demilitarisation in the late 1990s to consolidate its own position.

Santos said that his administration would not repeat the mistakes of the past, and today confirmed that military operations against the guerilla group would continue even as the peace talks get underway.

The president’s speech comes a day after FARC released a video in which its leader Rodrigo Londono, confirmed that the rebel group would attend the negotiations “without rancour or arrogance.”

The FARC leader, nicknamed ‘Timochenko’, claimed he is seeking a “democratic, just, and lasting peace.”

According to Colombian national El Tiempo, the peace talks will focus on five main areas: rural development, guarantees over the right to exercise political opposition, the laying down of arms, drug trafficking, and the rights of the victims of the internal conflict.