Colombia's peace deal in limbo after shock referendum - Reuters

Colombia's government and Marxist guerrillas scrambled on Monday to revive a plan to end their 52-year war after voters rejected the hard-negotiated deal as too lenient on the rebels in a shock referendum result that plunged the nation into uncertainty.

Any renegotiated peace accord now seems to depend on whether the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) could accept tougher sanctions against them.

Reuters

"No" voters, who narrowly won Sunday's plebiscite, want assurances the rebels will hand in cash from drugs, spend time in jail, and earn their political future at the ballot box rather than get guaranteed, unelected seats in Congress.

Both President Juan Manuel Santos and Rodrigo Londono, the top FARC commander better known by his nom de guerre Timochenko, put a brave face on the referendum setback after four years of negotiations in Havana between their teams.

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Colombians reject deal to end 52-year FARC rebel war - Reuters

Colombians narrowly rejected a peace deal with Marxist guerrillas in a referendum on Sunday, plunging the nation into uncertainty and dashing President Juan Manuel Santos' painstakingly negotiated plan to end the 52-year war.

The surprise victory for the "no" camp poured cold water on international joy, from the White House to the Vatican, at what had seemed to be the end of the longest-running conflict in the Americas.

Reuters

The "no" camp won by 50.21 percent to 49.78 percent. Voter turnout was only 37 percent, perhaps partly owing to torrential rain through the country.

Both sides in the war immediately sought to reassure the world they would try to revive their peace plan.

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Rebels could become guides, cheesemakers in post-war Colombia - Reuters

Julia Symmes Cobb

Veterans of Colombia's FARC guerrilla army could soon be making a living as eco-tourism guides, beef processors or cheese makers under plans by the Marxist group to invest in economic projects once a peace deal takes hold.

Vast swathes of rural land abandoned for decades because of war will be open to development, including by ex-fighters from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) working on communal farms and other initiatives funded by the group.

President Juan Manuel Santos and top rebel leader Timochenko signed peace on Monday, ending a 52-year-old conflict that killed more than 220,000 people and forced millions more from their homes.

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Colombia's FARC rebels ratify peace accord to end 52-year war - Reuters

Colombia's FARC rebel group voted unanimously to approve a peace deal with the government on Friday, declaring an end to the five-decade war as it prepares to transition into a new political party.

Julia Symmes Cobb

After four years of negotiations in Havana, the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia reached a final peace accord last month that will end a war that has left a quarter of a million people dead.

“Peace is the most beautiful of victories,” rebel leader Rodrigo Londono, who uses the nom de guerre Timochenko, told a crowd of hundreds of FARC fighters at the close of the guerrillas’ congress on the southern Yari Plains.

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As peace nears, Colombia's FARC rebels reunite with lost families - Reuters

Tatiana, her pregnant belly bulging beneath a T-shirt decorated with the FARC rebel group's logo, leans down to stroke her teenage son's hair, as if to reassure herself he is really beside her.

Reuters

The 36-year-old mother-to-be is a 19-year veteran of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) which will sign a peace deal with the government next week to end a 52-year war.

As rebel delegates from across the country gather on the Yari Plains in southern Colombia for a meeting to ratify the accord, the rank and file are preparing to hand in their weapons and return to families many have not seen for decades.

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