In Colombia, many hoped that Obama would free the FARC commander Simón Trinidad as a sign of his trust in and contribution to the peace process. One thing is to harbour the hope that it happens, quite another to trust the US government.
Renegotiating the Accord: The silence of the Left: Renegotiating is in fashion. The President-Elect of the USA, Donald Trump, threatens to renegotiate everything, o just simply burn all the agreements signed by the country. But the Colombian Right beat him to it. After their victory in the plebiscite, Uribe and the evangelical pastors, amongst others, did not waste any time in demanding to renegotiate what had been agreed upon
What type of peace awaits us? What is the scope of that peace? And, is the Left really thinking of continuing to struggle after the signing of the peace accord? These are questions that should concern us. The declarations made in Havana by the FARC commander give us some clue as to what they are thinking and the path they intend taking.
It must be made clear, however, that while this important agreement is the beginning of the end of the war with the FARC, it is not so with the ELN and the EPL who have publicly expressed their decision to dialogue towards a similar agreement, without the government taking any action on the issue.
By John Jairo Junieles
I have experienced death at close range seven times, the last time being when a young hit man, walking in front of me, shot a diner three times at a restaurant in a plaza in Cartagena. He threw the gun, which fell to the ground, turned around, walked past me with his black cap and peered at me from under the visor. A few steps further on, it was I who turned out of curiosity and saw a young woman screaming as she hugged the body. In the distance the young man slowly walked away. Perhaps the good luck I had that day was inordinate, since others living similar or more egregious things might not have such good fortune. Our war has many ways of expressing itself.
The beginning of the public phase of talks between the Colombian government and the ELN offers up great challenges and opportunities for citizen participation in the peace process.
The war, apart from being very costly for the country, is very hard on those who are fighting it – who are not the children of the rich – and for leftists who are persecuted unto death, marked as insurgents, and even more for the peasants living in areas where a terror reigns that has left more than 250,000 dead, 30,000 missing and almost seven million displaced
Agreed agenda to start dialogues:
1. Participation of society
2. Democracy for peace
3. Victims
4. Transformations for peace
5. Security for peace and dereliction of weapons
6. Guarantees for the exercise of political action.
Six “perceptions” of the government which impede the start of the public dialogue with the ELN
For various months, the Colombian nation and, particularly, important democratic sectors and social movements, friends and anonymous artisans of the peace process, have been waiting for the announcement by the government and the ELN of the start of the public dialogue on an agenda where, in the words of Nicolás Rodríguez Bautista : “not even a comma is missing… “. Nevertheless, the long awaited announcement has not materialized.
But meanwhile in Colombia, two specters have already arisen that constitute a fundamental impediment to any real progress in these demonstrations of goodwill and trust. They are the growing and sustained advance of paramilitarism in Colombia and the abusive behavior on the part of by some members of the security forces (both army and police) that constitutes a violation of human rights.
Colombia Peace 
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