Colombia — Global Minnesota's 2017 focus country — has been the subject of increased international interest in recent months.
In October, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos won the Nobel Peace Prize for fostering a peace process that eventually led to an historic accord between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
The peace prize — usually a reflection of events — may have helped shape them this time. Just days before the Nobel announcement, Colombian voters, in a low-turnout plebiscite, rejected a referendum on the peace deal, seemingly feeling that the terms were too lenient on FARC fighters accused of human rights crimes in the course of the 52-year conflict. As a newly minted laureate, Santos was able to hammer out a new deal with the FARC that was eventually approved by Colombian lawmakers.
In December, the Economist magazine dubbed Colombia its "country of the year." While calling Colombia's accord a "colossal achievement," Economist editors acknowledged that "like most negotiated peace deals, Colombia's is incomplete and involves ugly compromises. But the alternative is worse."
In more diplomatic terms that's the message that Juan Carlos Pinzón, Colombia's ambassador to the U.S., shared in an interview during his trip to Minneapolis this week.
The process, Pinzón said, had moved from incomplete to implementation. But, "How do you make peace sustainable in Colombia?" he asked rhetorically. "We need to attract investment, we need to attract jobs, and give freedom to people, freedom from violence, freedom from rhetoric and terrible ideologies," as well as an "objective, balanced justice system."
While Colombians can claim credit for solving their strife, they were helped by an ally: America.
In fact, the U.S. was instrumental in ending the enduring war with its "Plan Colombia" initiative instigated by former President Bill Clinton, who worked with Republicans in Congress for a comprehensive approach that included integrated military, diplomatic and economic efforts. But unlike some international initiatives that whither with partisan shifts, leaders of both parties, including former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, were stalwart.