Colombians narrowly rejected a referendum on Sunday on a peace deal that took over four years to negotiate and would have ended five decades of war.
In a final result few were anticipating, 50.22% of voters voted “no” on the single-issue ballot, a blow to President Juan Manuel Santos, whose popularity has suffered in his support of the deal.
Just last week, in a scene generations of Colombians never dreamed of seeing, President Santos and Rodrigo Londoño, leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, used pens made of recycled bullets to sign a deal ending a 52-year-old war.
But now it seems the rebels and the Colombian government, facilitated by international leaders, will have to go back to the drawing board to reimagine a peace that is acceptable to victims of murder, extortion and kidnapping. It is largely unclear what the path forward looks like, as rebel fighters were supposed to give up their weapons and rejoin society. Santos has said before there is no “plan B” if the deal falls through.
The results of the referendum on the elections website show that 99.91% of the polls are in and 50.22% of voters have voted “no,” a total of 6,430,708 votes. Heavy rains from Hurricane Matthew dissuaded voters in coastal areas from showing up at the polls. The referendum needed at least 13% turnout to hold.
Opinion polls had suggested the measure would pass, despite criticism that it didn’t do enough to punish the rebels. For many Colombians, the possibility of peace requires compromise and forgiveness for the estimated 220,000 lives lost.
In a televised address to the nation, Santos said he will continue to fight for peace and urged Colombians to not let the results undermine the country’s stability. “We all want peace,” he said.
“I summoned you all to see if you supported the ending of the conflict with FARC, and the majority — even for a reduced margin — said no.”
“I hear those that said ‘no’ and those that said ‘yes’ and we all want peace. Tomorrow we will get all our political parties together to continue dialogues and finding alternatives for peace. I will not give up, I will continue to fight for peace.”
The FARC expressed hope after the results were announced, tweeting, “The love that we carry in our heart is huge and with our words and actions will be able to achieve peace.”
Colombia’s second largest rebel group, who did not participate in this peace deal, tweeted it was “calling on the Colombian people to continue to search for a negotiated exit to the armed conflict.”
Forgiveness without justice?
For Salud Hernandez, a correspondent for El Mundo newspaper who was kidnapped by Colombia’s second largest rebel group, the ELN, in May, the accord is not justifiable for the Colombian people.
“I don’t think this is fair in any sense of what justice means,” she said.
“The tragedies of the war, the tears of the people, the missing, that the people, the families live. It is like they are the walking dead,” she said of a “stupid” war that has “planted much more tragedy than misery.”
Critics feel that the deal isn’t hard enough on FARC fighters and worry they will receive no jail time for crimes.
Although the peace deal has overwhelming international support, former president Alvaro Uribe Velez has been leading the campaign against it. He argues that the deal offers impunity to FARC fighters and accuses his successor, Santos, of conceding to FARC demands.
“There are victims and there are people who want revenge and people who cannot forgive the horrible results of a civil war,” said the Carter Center’s Jennie K. Lincoln. “That is what this peace accord is asking Colombians to do — to forgive, not forget, but forgive and move forward.”
“That is the difficult element for Colombian society — how to move forward after 50 years of civil war, and a peace accord which doesn’t punish everyone that people might like to see be punished,” Lincoln said.
The hundreds of pages of the treaty outlined a 180-day window to implement the peace process after the referendum passes.
“There is euphoria that the peace accord is being signed. Then there is the expectation that there will also be hard work,” said Lincoln, who sees the accord as a “road map.” “The next step will be as difficult or more difficult than getting to this accord.”
Questions remain about the reintegration of child soldiers, prosecution of human rights abuses and lucrative cocaine profits. But perhaps the most contentious question is about FARC’s future as a political party.
Under the agreement, the FARC would have been given 10 seats in Congress after they relinquish their weapons. Colombians are quick to point out the irony.
“It was dishonest for the country that President (Santos) handed seats (in Congress) to the guerrillas,” John Fernando Menesses told CNN en Español. “Now the army has to take care of the guerrillas. So many soldiers were killed by the guerrillas, (and) now they have to look after them — what an irony!”
Yet others felt it was time for peace, including the interior minister, Juan Fernando Cristo, whose own father was killed by the ELN almost 20 years ago.
“I am a victim of this conflict,” Cristo told CNN’s Rafael Romo. “If we don’t forgive, if we don’t give a chance for peace in Colombia, we are going to have more victims, more families (will) suffer. We have to stop this war,” Cristo said.