Global Research
In late August 2012, President Santos announced that the Colombian
regime was opening peace negotiations with the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia, (FARC), with the aim of ending nearly 50 years of
civil war.
Several economic, social, political and military changes account for
the Santos regimes abrupt shift from a policy of “peace” through
extermination of the guerrillas to a policy of a negotiated peace. The most basic change is the regimes adoption of an economic model
based on developmentalism via large scale long term flows of foreign
extractionist capital – in mining, petroleum and gas.
The second factor is the regimes’ perception that, after a decade of
intense repression, including the assassination of thousands of
peasants, trade unionists and human rights activists and the forcible
displacement of three to four million peasants from zones of guerrilla
activity, the popular insurgency no longer is an immediate threat to
regime power and that it is an appropriate moment to shift from
militarization of the country to exploiting its abundant natural
resources, especially at a time of high commodity prices.
