On September 6, 2017, Pope Francis fulfilled a promise he had made some time ago. He had said he would visit Colombia if a peace deal was finalized between the Colombian government and the armed rebels, called FARC. The peace deal was finalized some time ago and as he had promised, Pope Francis left for an official visit to Colombia on 06 Sep.
Why was the peace deal so important to Pope Francis? Because he knows very well the price the Colombian people have paid for the past 52 years because of the war between the government and the group of leftist guerrillas, called FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia). More than 220,000 people have died and more than 7,000,000 Columbians have been internally displaced. More than eighty-five priests have been assassinated since 1984, mostly because they have taken a neutral pro-people stand, supporting neither the rebels nor the army and opposed drug trade that brings funds to the armed groups. Bishops, priests and religious Sisters have been kidnapped or threatened by these groups.
The official motto for Pope’s trip is “Let’s take the first step,” which calls the Colombian people to do everything possible for reconciliation after the end of the bitter five-decades long civil war. During the visit the Pope will beatify a bishop and a priest who were killed by the guerrillas. On the stage will be what is called the Bojaya Crucifix, a dismembered image of Christ that survived an explosion in a church that killed more than seventy people – most of them children.
But ‘the candle’ I want to hold aloft now in this column is not Pope Francis. He is already shining like a beacon, isn’t he? But many don’t know the man who played the major role in getting the peace deal signed. He is someone whom the Vatican and Pope Francis have supported and encouraged: Juan Manuel Santos, President of Colombia, who has dedicated his presidency to ending the war with the FARC. That Santos could bring the rebels to the negotiating table is considered by many his biggest accomplishment. The negotiations began in 2012 in Oslo, Norway and then continued in Havana, Cuba. Finally, after four years of talks, a historic peace deal was signed on 26 Sep last year with a pen made from a bullet. In a referendum held to seek the people’s approval for the peace deal, it was rejected by a very narrow margin. So the talks continued and two months later a revised version of the peace deal was approved by both the houses of the Congress.
Born on 10 August 1951, in Bogota, Columbia as a member of the wealthy and influential family, Santos joined the Navy Academy as a cadet, then went to Kansas, U.S. to study economics and business administration. He later studied at the London School of Economics and Harvard Kennedy School. An award-winning columnist and reporter, he became the Director of a popular newspaper.
Appointed in 1991 as Colombia’s first Minister of Foreign Trade, Santos expanded his country’s international trade. He later became the Minister of Finance and Public Credit. In 2005, he co-founded and led the Social Party of National Unity, a liberal-conservative party coalition and after the party won, became the Minister of National Defence, who took a strong stand against FARC and other guerilla groups. But he soon came to understand the need for negotiations with the rebels in order to end the violence and bring peace to his much-scarred country. In October last year Juan Manuel Santos won the Nobel Peace Prize “for his resolute efforts to bring the country’s more than 50-year-long civil war to an end.” Time magazine named him as one of world’s 100 most influential people.
As disciples of Jesus who declared, “Blessed are the peacemakers,” we should pray that the efforts of Santos and Pope Francis to promote reconciliation and peace should succeed.
