As the first Colombian election after the historic signing of the peace deal approaches, the good news is that the conflict has blessedly ended, but the implementation of the accord has been complicated and contentious. It does not help that the political establishment stands fractured and discredited. The risk is that the country’s unsettled politics could upend the peace.
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En este programa especial de Club de Prensa, Michael Shifter conversa sobre lo que esperar en 2018 – un año clave para el destino de América Latina.
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El jueves 8 de diciembre, el Diálogo mantuvo un conversatorio público con los analistas colombianos Marta Lucía Ramírez, Catalina Botero, Fernando Cepeda, y Rodrigo Pardo.
On November 17, the Dialogue cosponsored an event with General Oscar Naranjo, Vice President of Colombia. During the conversation, which took place at the Wilson Center, General Naranjo discussed the new economic and social opportunities that the peace process will make available to the country.
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Under President Juan Manuel Santos, the Colombian government has vastly expanded protected areas, creating new national parks and providing land titles to indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities in the Amazon, Chocó and other important forest regions. However, many challenges remain. National parks and indigenous and Afro-Colombian lands continue to be threatened by illegal occupation, coca cultivation and illegal gold mining.
Providing reliable, clean energy to Colombia’s growing population will be a tremendous challenge in the coming years, especially in light of the peace process with the FARC.
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On July 17, the Inter-American Dialogue invited Colombia’s Minister of Labor, Griselda Restrepo, to discuss labor advances in post-conflict Colombia. Director of the Peter D. Bell Rule of Law Program, Michael Camilleri, moderated the discussion. The event focused on US-Colombia cooperation over labor policy, new labor initiatives accompanying the peace accords, and post-conflict violence against workers.
As Colombia begins the multi-year process of implementing last year’s peace accord, it is vital to balance environmental conservation with the need for sustainable economic development.
El lunes 20 de marzo, El Diálogo realizó un evento con el Ministro de Interior de Colombia, Juan Fernando Cristo, para discutir la implementación del Acuerdo de Paz de Colombia con las FARC.
Peace in Colombia promises to bring many environmental benefits to the country but also poses environmental risks associated with the rural development plans contemplated in the post-conflict agenda.
Across Latin America, the sustained decline in global oil prices has had a profound impact on economic growth, political stability and the viability of resource nationalism – when governments assert more control over the nation’s natural resources.
Colombia should integrate environmental considerations into its rural economic development plans to avoid an increase in deforestation associated with the post-conflict transition.
Following Santos lead, the Michel Temer government would first have to test whether Brazil’s legislative leaders are willing to conduct serious negotiations, and prepared to make concessions that could be effective in curbing the country’s pervasive corruption—or at least offer a better solution than the current case-by-case approach of criminal investigations and trials.
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More than five decades of war appears to be over as the Colombian Congress ratifies a new peace deal with FARC rebels. The new deal includes 50 changes to an initial one narrowly rejected by voters in October. Michael Shifter analyzes.
On October 20, the Inter-American Dialogue held a private conversation with Juan Carlos Pinzón, Colombia’s Ambassador to the United States. Private sector and non-governmental leaders, as well as independent analysts, engaged in a frank exchange with Ambassador Pinzón about the future of the peace negotiations between the Colombian government and the FARC, after the ‘No’ vote won in the national plebiscite held on October 2nd.
