Colombian voters are expected to approve a peace deal ending 52 years of war
Colombian voters are expected to approve a historic peace deal in a referendum Sunday, ending 52 years of brutal fighting between the government in Bogotá against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) that has claimed more than 220,000 lives and displaced millions.
The ballot asks voters to answer a single question — "Do you support the final accord to end the conflict and build a stable and lasting peace?" — and, if approved, will allow most FARC fighters to avoid jail time as well as transforming the guerrilla movement into a political party with a presence in Colombia's congress.
Though some Colombians have expressed concern that the agreement is too lenient for FARC guerrillas, most believe a flawed peace is better than none. "Even one less death is enough of an argument," said Sandra Guevara, a secretary who supports the deal. "I'm voting yes because I'm betting on hope, to guarantee my son can see a better country."
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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