The Colombian government has been left without a plan ‘b’ after 50.22 percent of the country’s voters rejected a peace deal with FARC rebels on Sunday (Oct. 2). The administration of President Juan Manuel Santos will go back to the drawing board in the effort to renegotiate with the people of Colombia, CNN reports.
#Atención Con el 98 % de las mesas procesadas, gana el No con 50.22%#ColombiaDecide pic.twitter.com/0NOsACyNV5
— Canal Capital (@CanalCapital) October 2, 2016
Voters, reportedly, were dissatisfied with what they saw as insufficient punishment for the group behind a 52-year conflict marked by government attacks, high-profile kidnappings, plane hijackings and cocaine trafficking. Throughout the terror campaign, an estimated 220,000 Colombians were killed while five million were displaced from their homes, an unforgivable aftermath in the eyes of many.
“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,” Santos said in a televised address on Sunday. “I will not give up, I will continue to fight for peace.”
FARC leader Rodrigo Londoño Echeverría stood by the president’s remarks, confirming that the former rebels will not be swayed by the results of the peace deal vote. “The FARC-EP maintains the willingness for peace, and they reaffirm their disposition to use only the word as a constructive weapon towards the future,” he said. “To the Colombian people who dream with peace, they can count on us. Peace will triumph.”