Columbia who has been fighting off a rebel group for the past 6 decades, is a former dissident of the FARC and known as the Second Marquetalia. Just yesterday it was announced that they have began the peace process, in a joint statement they said that this peace could be achieved through border peace zones that would potentially stimulate the economy throughout these border peace zones. Over the past 6 decades this conflict has led to over 450,000 deaths and even after the dismemberment of the FARC in 2016 both factions apart from it rejected it and formed a new group. The new rebel group operates out of the colombia-venezuela border lines. It is made up of some 1,670 members, of whom about 1,060 are combatants and 610 are from support networks. Since recent statements from 2019 after they said they want to get away from kidnappings and senseless killings it’s starting to look like maybe they are actually willing to begin the peace process.
This will be a major weight off of colombia’s shoulders if they are able to reach a deal, but with so many moving parts with the border disputes it might end up forcing some people out of their homes. But ultimately if these two conflicting factions are willing to give up bits and pieces of territory then you will see a conflict that has claimed the lives of so many come to an end. This will also immensely help Colombia begin to grow and become more prevalent at the global level. I think this whole conflict happened and continued to go on because of poor leadership and diplomacy form both of the groups, although it had been more lowscale as its been going on for six decades we have yet to see any side pull ahead and put an end to it. The colombian government had a chance in 2016 but they did a halfway job which led to dissenting groups forming and the same issues arising.
Overall, this relates to what we’ve been discussing in class because when we see internal conflict usually they have at least regional implications. But in this conflict we saw these 2 groups go for 60 years and neither one decided to give up. But when you look at it from that perspective it’s easy to see that this conflict was purely formed from one group disliking the way the government was running things.