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Colombia: Uribe on the FARC referendum

President Juan Manuel Santos has invested most of his political capital on the FARC peace talks – hosted by the Cuban Communist regime – which are now in their third year, and he implies he could resign if Colombia rejects FARC peace deal:

If the Colombian people fail to vote in favor of the deal, the efforts of the last three years will be for nothing.

Last Sunday he pardoned 30 FARC terrorists as a sign of good will.

Santos tries to make the deal palatable by saying the Colombian people would vote on it in a referendum, which the FARC oppose. The FARC continue their inflammatory rhetoric (emphasis added):

The FARC released a statement for the third anniversary of the talks. While they outlined some of the major positive achievements so far they were sure to critique the negotiations as well.

“Unilateralism, uncompromising stubbornness, particular political selfishness, the absence of common sense, the pettiness of class” on the side of the government are some of the things that the FARC claim are getting in the way of the progress of the talks like “dead mules in the middle of the road.”

The FARC also reiterated their disagreement with the proposed plebiscite as a fair way to include all members of society in the decision on the peace deal, saying, “there is not another solution than that of a Constituent National Assembly.”

There are many misgivings on the deal and on the referendum.

Former president Alvaro Uribe has been tweeting about it [my translation],

“Santos’s peace 1. A one-question plebiscite as minimum threshold to impose it creating a fear of war. Does not allow for consideration.”

“Santos’s peace 2. Impunity so the leaders cam prolong and multiply violence. Moving from one set of uniformed criminals to another.”

“Santos’s peace 3. Enabling terrorism so Castro Chavism may be at the helm of the State.”

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