After the first talks, initiated in 1984, and after three years and seven months of negotiations, the signing of this agreement is “a giant step,” asserted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who added: “Peace in Colombia is peace in the region.”
Also, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos wrote yesterday on Twitter: “Tomorrow will be a great day! We work for a Colombia at peace, a dream beginning to come true. #SíALaPaz.” Meanwhile, Timoleon “Timoshenko” Jimenez, commander of the FARC-EP, wrote on the social network: “We went to the Negotiating Table convinced of the need for peace, interpreting the desire of the majority”.
“We congratulate the people and government of Cuba for its solidarity and its contribution in mediating for peace in Colombia,” pointed out the president of Bolivia, Evo Morales.
Dominican vice president Margarita Cedeno assured that Colombia has been a benchmark of progress and perseverance in its constant struggle for lasting peace, the Spanish agency EFE reported.
The agreements between the Government of Colombia and the FARC-EP ratify the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace signed in January 2014 at the Second Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
The pact will end the longest conflict in Latin America, with a balance of approximately 200,000 deaths and 25,000 people missing in over 50 years.
Headed by Juan Manuel Santos, and “Timoshenko”, the signing ceremony was attended by Cuban President Raul Castro, Foreign Minister of Norway Borge Brende, the Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, as well as the heads of state of Venezuela, El Salvador, Chile, the Dominican Republic and other countries.