Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has just announced that he is extending a ceasefire with Colombia’s largest rebel movement. His motive behind the move is to save the peace deal.
According to FOX News Latino, President Santos is trying his very best to give more to for efforts to save the peace deal rejected by voters in Colombia.
In a televised speech, Santos says that he will be extending the ceasefire with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia for two more months until December 31.
The site reports that he made the announcement after meeting with students who have been organizing demonstrations across the country to demand the accord be implemented immediately despite it being rejected in a referendum.
"Let it be clear: this isn't an ultimatum or deadline," Santos said, adding that he hoped to have an agreement before year's end. He said the lives of soldiers and guerrillas depended on warfare not resuming. "Time is conspiring against peace and life."
Santos is committed to his award of the Nobel Peace Prize and is trying to find ways to work together. He is currently engaged in three-way talks with the FARC and the opposition to find ways to adjust the accord so that he can garner more support.
However, Former President Alvaro Uribe, who led the opposition, is demanding deep changes. He wants stiffer consequences for rebels who committed war crimes. Meanwhile, the rebels who would be spared jailed time under the new accord, are insisting that they wont go back to the beginning and thro out more than four years of intense negotiations with the government.
Santos is in for a lot of backlash but he is committed to making Colombia a peaceful nation. There is no word on Uribe’s stance on Santos’ ceasefire.
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