Mandela's Spirit Lives In Colombia Today.

[Noesdeayer]

I recently returned from a short trip to Colombia.The reason for which was the wedding of the daughter of a US lady friend in Cartagena.The big news of the moment there is the ratification of the 2nd peace accord by their congress.I came up from BA and my sister plus a large US contingent flew down from NYC. Among them was Al ,an Afro-US friend for the last 50 years.
At the table during the reception the converstion turned to the peace accord.A Colombian lady was adament in her rejection of the peace accord.Al spoke about the almost painful peace accord sponsored by Mandela that ,nonetheless,South African blacks felt it was better to accept a long standing stalemate and that maybe the same could be true for Colombia today.It would appear that a majority of the Colombian congress felt the same as the accord has been ratified.
Reading today's NYTimes online I see in the America's Opinion Page an article "Colombia:Turning A Peace Deal into Reality" by an Afro-Colombian activist Richard Moreno..A good many of the Colombians killed by the fighting were black.it was interesting to note that the provinces which most suffered from the 50 year "violencia" voted for the accord.While the provinces which suffered least voted against.I ask myself," Why was that?".

 

[Noesdeayer]

As a comment on the NYT article mentioned above.I received a note today from Kitty a friend from NYC with a poem by Irishman Michael Longley on the Ceasefire in that country.
An excerpt: "this whole business of foregiveness and magnanimity is so fraught,so clear in theory and so very,very difficult in practice"
There is a message here for a lot of conflicts in a lot of places. Maybe even for the modern day United States?

 

[gracielle]

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos receives the Nobel Peace Prize[font="arial black""] [/font]for his efforts on the signing of the peace agreement.

 

[ElQueso]

Is that the same Nobel prize that Obama got for simply being elected president? After something like that it's hard to know if the award means anything in this case, or is it just another awarding ahead of time for expectations?

 

[John Doe]

Why isn't EVERYTHING on these forums limited to Buenos Aires and possibly Argentina?

 

[Noesdeayer]

El Queso
:I almost always respect your balanced judgement .Having helped put an end to civil violence ,death and kidnappings of over 50 years duration.I believe merits the Nobel Peace Prize.

JohnDoe : What would you do then about posting from the many far away places you visit on your around the globe tours?

 

[John Doe]

I may have posted from different parts of the World, but I have NEVER mentioned anything aboiut the country's politics.

John D

 

[scotttswan]

Its interesting that the people most affected by the farc and government militias voted for peace but the safe city dwellers voted no.

 

[ElQueso]

El Queso
:I almost always respect your balanced judgement .Having helped put an end to civil violence ,death and kidnappings of over 50 years duration.I believe merits the Nobel Peace Prize.
[...]

Noesdeayer, I wasn't saying that Santos didn't deserve to be awarded for his efforts. To be honest, I don't know a whole lot about Colombian politics (even though our eldest young lady is dating a Colombian student here, heh) and how the whole process of getting past decades of horrible violence is actually going. You made a comment about the two sides that have different feelings about the peace accord, and I wasn't sure which side was right or wrong, particularly when compared to the South African settlement being short of a really good solution.

Thus my comment about the Nobel Peace Prize: I don't think, any more, that the awarding of that prize necessarily means much in and of itself, as far as pointing in the right direction. It may well be that it was correctly awarded in this case, but I would have no way to know of that, based on my ignorance of the true situation in Colombia.

 

[Noesdeayer]

El Queso :
Thanks for the clarification.
ejcot en argentina.
That was my exact quetion at the end of my original post.I now ask you directly,
Why do you think the vote went the way you mentioned?