Colombia-FARC Peace Deal Gets Support from Neighboring Countries

Latin American and Caribbean governments have all agreed that it is necessary to end the armed conflict between Colombia and rebel group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). According to Yahoo!, the leaders of the summit said that the mission of their organization is to oversee an accord between the Colombian government and the Marxist rebel group.

Speaking at the 4th Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said, "In the past CELAC summit our region was declared a peaceful area, the armed conflict in Colombia is the only one that persists in the entire region, that's why CELAC members have said it must come to an end soon."

Hosting the summit is Ecuador president Rafael Correa, who said about their stand on the conflict, "We are offering CELAC with all its capability to support the verification of the agreement,"

TeleSur noted that the war inside Colombia, which lasted about five decades, has displaced over 6.7 million people and has taken the lives of over 220,000.

However, the conflict is over with the government and rebel group negotiating peace with the help of the United Nations, who, in an unanimous decision on Monday, approved the creation of a special mission to verify the bilateral ceasefire and subsequent disarmament of the members of the guerrilla group.

President Santos said that the UN will choose the countries to take part in monitoring the deal and ensure its implementation. He told the summit, "The United Nations have told us that they have already received offers from a great many countries because many countries are interested in taking part. It could involve any country that belongs to CELAC."

The negotiation process is still ongoing; however, peace talks in Cuba's capital, Havana, has seen several key advances in the last few months, and both sides have already set a March 23 deadline to sign the final agreements.

It has been noted that despite the deadline, the FARC has warned that "substantial" obstacles could still get in the way.

Still, both the government and the rebel group members are ready to put the past behind them for good, with some FARC members even looking forward to returning to their own homes.

For instance, Independent UK noted that a rebel leader known by the name Juan Pablo said that he's thinking of a future outside the FARC camps in the jungle, even planning on running for mayor in the poor village that he left as a teenager.

When the final agreement is signed, maybe then he, along with the other FARC members, can finally rest in a world beyond guns and violence.