The peace deal between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, was voted down on Sunday, despite previous polls which showed approval of the treaty.
A treaty was signed last week between Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC leader Timoleon Jimenez. It was the focus of much controversy because of how it handled the treatment of FARC members. Other members of the group would be given alternative punishments to incarceration under the deal, if they confessed to war crimes. The terms are largely what caused a rift among Colombian voters, leaving a narrow margin with 50.2 percent opposed to the deal and 49.8 percent in favor of it.
So what happens now, and how are Colombians and Colombian Americans in SoCal reacting? Larry Mantle speaks to Gimena Sanchez of the Washington Office on Latin America and Julia Symmes Cobb, a reporter in Bogotá, to get an inside perspective on the outcome of the vote.
Guests:
Julia Symmes Cobb, Bogotá-based freelance journalist; she co-wrote the recent New York Times article, “Colombia peace deal defeated, leaving a nation in shock”; she tweets @JSymmesCobb
Gimena Sanchez, senior associate for Colombia and Haiti at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), a research and advocacy organization for human rights in the Americas; she tweets @gimena_wola