Urbanite Colombians cheer for more death and destruction.
Just last week, western media was praising the Colombian peace agreement. Four years of negotiations in Cuba, commentators noted, had finally put an end to a 50-year conflict between the government and the left-wing rebel movement Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and involving various right-wing paramilitary groups and narco cartels that had claimed an estimated 200,000 lives, and displaced five million people.
The negotiators had hammered out a 300-page document, and on September 26, Colombian officials and FARC representatives signed an accord in Cartagena, in front of foreign dignitaries including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and US Secretary of State John Kerry.
When Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos and Rodrigo Londono, the leader of the FARC, shook hands, jets flew overhead trailing smoke in the yellow, blue and red of the Colombian flag. The upcoming referendum on the accord, pollsters predicted, would be a resounding "Yes".
Peace process in limbo
And yet on Sunday the pact was rejected - 50.21 percent to 49.78 percent, a difference of 53,894 votes - in a referendum that has thrown the peace process into limbo.
The result while shocking, is not inexplicable. The vote was largely a result of domestic politics.
Comment: What a complete waste of time, money and resources! The situation is so ludicrous that Denver police are are running out of room to store all the pot they have confiscated in raids, despite the fact that marijuana is legal in Colorado. And of course, the department is asking for more funds to handle the problem!
What makes this so egregious is that there is such a dire need for funds that could be more productively used - particularly when poverty and homelessness in the U.S have been growing at such an alarming rate. In a sane society taking care of the homeless or providing for food pantries would be prioritized.