Stalled Peace Deals, New Threats and the Commitment of Civil Society in Colombia
After four years of negotiations, the Colombian government and the FARC finalized a peace agreement in August of this year. The agreement was signed by both sides in a public event in Cartagena on September 26th in front of a number of heads of state and the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. The last hurdle, as previously agreed, was a national plebiscite on the agreement with a YES or NO answer. It was generally seen as a formality. On October 2nd, Colombians went to the polls, but the result was completely unexpected by any party: with a low voter turnout of a little over 13 million people (37%) the NO vote won by a mere 60,000 votes, a margin of 0.4%.
