52 min

US Colombia Partnership & the 2016 Peace Accord with Colombian General Alberto Mejia and Ambassador Kevin Whitaker The General and the Ambassador: A Conversation

    • Politics

General Mejia and Ambassador Whitaker discuss the arduous effort to negotiate a peace agreement between the Govt of Colombia and the FARC. Topics include: the campaign plan (Espada de Honor) in which the military got access to new key intelligence & used tactics/ equipment provided by the US through Plan Colombia, to drive the FARC to the table;  the multiyear negotiations pursued in Cuba in the presence of a special US envoy; the complicated broad terms of the agreement; how it has been implemented (demobilization, transitional justice and coca cultivation); and the continued challenge of dissident FARC members, other insurgent/paramilitary groups & criminal networks.

General Mejia and Ambassador Whitaker discuss the arduous effort to negotiate a peace agreement between the Govt of Colombia and the FARC. Topics include: the campaign plan (Espada de Honor) in which the military got access to new key intelligence & used tactics/ equipment provided by the US through Plan Colombia, to drive the FARC to the table;  the multiyear negotiations pursued in Cuba in the presence of a special US envoy; the complicated broad terms of the agreement; how it has been implemented (demobilization, transitional justice and coca cultivation); and the continued challenge of dissident FARC members, other insurgent/paramilitary groups & criminal networks.

52 min