Colombian peace process

Right-wing parties opposed to a peace deal with the FARC won historic elections in Colombia on March 11 but fell short of a majority in polls that saw the former rebels enter the Congress.

FARC member

BOGOTÁ, Colombia - The last United Nations truck carrying containers filled with pistols, rifles and grenades that formerly belonged to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) has left a "transition zone" in the northeast of the country, marking the end of the rebels' disarmament.

President Juan Manuel Santos declared Colombia's 50-year conflict with FARC guerrillas finally over on Aug. 15, as the last truckloads of decommissioned weapons rolled away to be melted down.

Colombia's FARC rebel group said on June 7 that it has handed in 30 percent of its weaponry to the United Nations, part of a peace deal signed with the government last year to end more than 52 years of war.

Colombia created a "truth commission" to help it heal after decades of war under a recent peace deal with the leftist FARC rebels.

President Juan Manuel Santos also signed into law a decree establishing a special unit to search for people still missing in the country's 53-year conflict.

The Colombian government has opened the first round of peace talks with the ELN rebel group, seeking to end a 53-year conflict that has killed more than 260,000.

Colombia's peace deal is a model for countries at war like Syria, President Juan Manuel Santos said Dec. 10 as he accepted his Nobel Peace Prize, though a ceremony for other laureates was marked by Bob Dylan's no-show.

The Congress formally ratified a revised peace agreement with Colombia's biggest leftist rebel group, capping a torturous four years of negotiations, a stunning referendum rejection, last-minute compromises and two signing ceremonies.

A new peace accord between Colombia's government and Marxist FARC rebels will be signed on Nov. 24 and sent to Congress for approval, President Juan Manuel Santos said on Nov. 22, bringing a formal end to the 52-year civil war ever closer. 

The Colombian government and the Marxist FARC rebels said on Nov. 12 they agreed on a revised peace deal to end a 52-year war, six weeks after the original was narrowly rejected in a referendum amid objections it was too favorable to the rebels.