WHEN President Juan Manuel Santos began peace talks with Colombia’s FARC guerrillas last November, he promised that the negotiations would take “months, not years”. As well as seeking to reassure voters that the rebels would not be allowed to spin out the process as cover for their own regrouping, Mr Santos had the country’s political calendar in mind. Congressional and presidential elections are due in March and May of next year. He had hoped to do a deal to end the country’s half-century of conflict in time for the launch of his re-election bid, which has a deadline of November 25th.The schedule has turned out to be too tight. On November 6th negotiators reached a draft agreement on only the second of six items that are up for discussion. The resolution would establish new measures to favour small political parties, including any born of an eventual demobilisation of the FARC. It would create temporary special congressional districts for the areas hardest hit by the conflict—in other words, those where the FARC are strongest—as a way of ensuring that the rebels have a shot at winning representation. The deal followed an agreement in May on how to cope with the...
via The Economist: The Americas http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21589861-just-agreement-reached-news-assassination-plot-highlights-risks-peace?fsrc=rss|ame
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