Americas

Colombia pres. in US to shares details of peace deal

- Santos hoping for funds from US for substitution of coca crop

Richard Mccoll  | 18.11.2016 - Update : 18.11.2016
Colombia pres. in US to shares details of peace deal  Archive Photo

Colombia

By Richard McColl

BOGOTA, Colombia

President Juan Manuel Santos explained to US. lawmakers Thursday the elements of a new peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) after a referendum on the first agreement was rejected.

“In these meetings I explained the new agreement reached with the FARC,” Santos said at a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. “How after the plebiscite referendum of Oct. 2, we began a series of conversations, dialogues with different actors in the ‘No’ campaign in order to listen to their complaints, their worries and their proposals. After these meetings, a total of 57 proposals were put forward and the majority have been included in the new agreement with the FARC.”

He said he explained to the U.S. Congress the new agreement is better than the previous one and should be implemented by Colombian lawmakers. He did not say when the new deal would be presented to Colombia’s Congress.

Additionally, Santos reiterated that, “not all of the petitions presented by the ‘No’ campaign were addressed because this would be impossible.”

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden congratulated Santos on reaching the revised peace accord during a phone call Wednesday, the White House said.

Santos met with Democratic and Republican representatives, the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and “a very important group of Republican senators,” presumably with close links to the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.

Santos said he hoped the American Congress would approve, “as soon as possible” a $450 million package of funds for the peace plan pledged by President Barack Obama in February.

He specifically stressed the importance of the funds to support illicit crop replacement measures meant to combat cocaine trafficking.

“The sooner they approve these measures, the more they will help us implement the accords, among these the substitution of illicit crops,” Santos said.

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