Regular reporting of ongoing issues in Latin America rarely occurs in the United States. Instead Americans receive brief highlights of formative events such as El Salvador's El Mozote Massacre where teams of reporters from the U.S. were dispatched to cover the issue in detail. This lackluster coverage has left many in the dark on important issues facing our neighbors to the South, such as the ongoing war in Colombia.

FARC Website Logo

On May 27 1964 the rebel group known as FARC, The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People's army, launched there first attack on the Colombian government. Since then the government has waged war against the rebel group, which many countries regard as terrorists, and other rebel groups in the country. FARC formed shortly after the Colombian civil war and has a strong Marxist influence, with communal land reform constituting one of their target goals.

Havana Peace Talks August 2015

Different estimates suggest that over the fifty plus year long war there have been over 200,000 deaths and an incredible amount of disappearances, kidnappings, and internal displacements. This has been fueled by the groups move to drug trafficking and kidnappings to help support their cause back in the 1970's. The government has held numerous peace talks with the rebel group. However, all have ended in failure.

Timoleón Jiménez FARC Leader

Today peace talks that started in 2012 continue and many have believe that these peace talks will be successful. FARC has lost a large portion of its members over the past ten years and the two sides have reached agreements on land reform, political participation after the agreements, and the illegal drug trades.

Critical issues still face the peace talks such as amnesty for FARC members after the war. FARC leaders have mentioned multiple times that they will not sign a peace accord if it means going to jail right after signing it, while powerful critics in the Colombian government such as Alvaro Uribe staunchly support jail time for members of FARC after the peace accords.

Pope Francis

Even the Pope has gotten involved. Both the rebel group and the government asked the Pope to weigh in on the situation and following his visit on September 24th the president of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, announced that the two sides will reach an agreement within the next six months. For now the two sides have agreed to an interim deal. Secretary of John Kerry even chimed in stating "Peace is now even closer". In the statement he also gave his gratitude to the Vatican for helping push the talks forward. Continuing the list of milestones the rebel leader, Timochenko, recently tweeted that military training in FARC has been suspended. This is a huge move as both sides have begun taking actions that signal their belief that peace talks will succeed.

Of course there are still worries on both sides, but it appears that leaders in both the rebel group and the Colombian government are rushing towards a permanent peace agreement. Hopefully a peace accord will allow the Colombian people to focus on other important issues such as the border conflict with Venezuela.