Peace in Colombia looms

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Colombia continues to make its way toward the end of a bloody, now 52-year-old civil war between its government and a rebel movement, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the FARC.

Ameerican military

Although some American elements preferred the situation in Colombia when the government’s war against the FARC, a sometime-Marxist, drug-dealing organization, was in full flower, permitting considerable American military involvement in the country and substantial arms sales, there is no question but that the Colombians themselves would benefit greatly from the end of the long, painful war.

The latest step was the signing Monday in Cartagena by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and top FARC military leader Rodrigo Londono of an accord which, if approved by a plebiscite of Colombian voters, would end the war and begin to build a peace.