Colombia Peace Accord's Defeat May Be For The Best: Rebel Leader

BOGOTA, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Oct, 2016 ) - The leader of Colombia's FARC said Wednesday it may have been for the best that the peace accord negotiated with the government was rejected in a national referendum.

The victory for the "No" vote in the October 2 referendum was a stunning setback to a nearly four-year effort to end Latin Americas last major guerrilla war. Polls had predicted that the peace agreement would easily pass but turnout was low and many voters were troubled by its lenient treatment of war crimes by FARC leaders.

Londono, known as Timochenko, said the FARC was responding to the loss with a massive effort to educate voters about the agreement and lay their doubts to rest. "It was almost good that it happened, because it is enabling many doubts to be cleared up, and especially in getting that important sector of the Colombian people that did not vote -- more than 63 percent -- interested in this historic event," he said in an interview with Radio Caracol.

"It is permitting us to correct what we didn't do in developing the agreements, which was a massive education effort," he said. So confident were they of victory that President Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC signed the peace agreement on September 29, days before the referendum.

Despite the thumbs down, both sides have agreed to continue to observe a ceasefire that went into effect August 29 and to discuss fixes to the accord. "We cannot toss aside the possibility of halting a confrontation that has already lasted 52 years," Londono said. "We are listening to the different sectors, the 'No" as well as the 'Yes.'"