The Battle for Peace: The Long Road to Ending a War with the World's Oldest Guerrilla Army

by Juan Manuel Santos, Joe Broderick (Translator), John Kerry (Foreword by)

Overview

This is the comprehensive account of the long and difficult road traveled to end the fifty-year armed conflict with the FARC, the oldest guerrilla army in the world; a long war that left more than eight million victims. The obstacles to peace were both large and dangerous. All previous attempts to negotiate with the FARC had failed, creating an environment where differences were irreconcilable and political will was scarce. The Battle for Peace is the story not only of the six years of negotiation and the peace process that transformed a country, its secret contacts, its international implications, and difficulties and achievements but also of the two previous decades in which Colombia oscillated between warlike confrontation and negotiated solution.

In The Battle for Peace Juan Manuel Santos shares the lessons he learned about war and peace and how to build a successful negotiation process in the context of a nation which had all but resigned itself to war and the complexities of twenty-first-century international law and diplomacy. While Santos is clear that there is no handbook for making peace, he offers conflict-tested guidance on the critical parameters, conditions, and principles as well as rich detail on the innovations that made it possible for his nation to find common ground and a just solution.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780700630677
Publisher:	University Press of Kansas
Publication date:	08/10/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	464
File size:	16 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Juan Manuel Santos was president of Colombia from 2010 to 2018 and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016. Prior to becoming president Santos had a long career of public service in Colombia, including as minister of foreign trade, minister of finance and public credit, and minister of national defense. Santos prepared for these roles by attending the University of Kansas, through postgraduate studies at the London School of Economics and Harvard University, as a Fulbright Fellow at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and in the Nieman Foundation for Journalism, Harvard University. While out of government he was a journalist as deputy editor at the newspaper El Tiempo. He currently is founder and chairman of the board, Compaz Center of Resources for Peace, which works for the empowerment of victims, the consolidation of peace, the reduction of poverty and inequality, and the defense of the environment in Colombia and the planet.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Foreword by John Kerry, former US secretary of state

Prologue to the Spanish-Language Edition by Felipe González, former prime minister of Spain

Letter to the Reader

Introduction: Two Centuries between War and Peace

Part One: Conspiring for Peace (1991-1998)

1. A First Approach to Peace

2. Destination Columbia

3. The Story of My Conspiracy

Part Two: Creating Conditions for Peace (1998-2009)

4. The Start of the Caguán Process

5. Plan Colombia

6. The End of the Caguán Process

7. First a Hawk, Then a Dove

8. A Team for War and Peace

9. Checkmate for Terror

Lesson 1: To Achieve a Favorable Correlation of Strength

Part Three: The Secret Phase (2010-2012)

10. “Betrayal”

11. Hugo Chavez: Agreeing to Disagree

12. Rafael Corea: From Hostility to Cooperation

Lesson 2: Make Allies out of Your Enemies

13. First Approach to the Farc

14. The Fall of Number Two

15. Admitting There Is an Armed Conflict

16. The Death of Alfonso Cano

Lesson 3: Sometimes You Have to Negotiate in the Middle of the Conflict

17. First Meeting in Havana

18. The Importance of the Agenda

Lesson 4: It’s the Peace, Stupid

Part Four: The Table in Havana (2012-2016)

19. Colombia Is Informed of the Process

20. The Human Factor

21. “Nothing Is Agreed until Everything Is Agreed”

22. International Advisers

23. The Message of Francis

24. The Backing of the United States

25. The World Bets on Peace in Colombia

Lesson 5: The Importance of International Support

26. “We Mustn't Give Up Halfway”

27. The Problem of Drugs

28. The Peace Elections

29. The Example of the Victims

30. The Rights of the Victims

31. A Model of Justice for the World

32. The Point of No Return

Lesson 6: The Victims and Their Rights Should Be at the Center of the Solution

33. The End of the Conflict

34. “The Horrible Night Is Over”

Part Five: Building Peace (2016-2018)

35. The Plebiscite

36. From Hell to Heaven in Five Days

37. An Irrational Opposition

38. The Path to a New Colombia

Epilogue: It Was Worthwhile

Appendix. Peace in Colombia: From the Impossible to the Possible—Nobel Lecture, Oslo, December 10, 2016

Index

Editorial Reviews

"This is a remarkable story that deserves to be told, and Santos tells it well."—Manhattan (KS) Mercury

“The peace process that was the central policy of Juan Manuel Santos’s two terms as president of Colombia finally reached an accord that ended the fifty-years conflict with the FARC, Latin America’s oldest and largest guerrilla group. Making peace is never swift, simple, complete, or uncontroversial, and the necessary compromises were only reached in the face of many setbacks, fierce criticism, and opposition. The agreement was nonetheless a historic achievement, and it embodies a general recognition that the country’s future is not going to be decided by the violent politics of armed struggle. President Santos’s account of the negotiations—frank, detailed, and generous to those who assisted inside and outside Colombia—has important lessons for peacemakers everywhere.”—Malcolm Deas, St Antony’s College, University of Oxford

“Santos was able to see—to have the imagination and the vision to see—that this was the moment when you could pivot to peace. This was someone who was completely sincere in his genuine desire to change the lives of the people and to bring peace where before conflict had been the norm for thousands and thousands of people suffering. This was a really tough thing to do. This was frankly tougher than Northern Ireland, tougher I think than any conflict I have been involved in, and I would put the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the same bracket. To have taken it this far is an extraordinary achievement. I’d say to the people of Colombia: just remember the darkest days of this conflict and what that was like. Debate, by all means, the right way to go forward but don’t let this slip back. That would be a big mistake.”—Tony Blair

“Making peace after a long and bloody conflict is not a work for the faint-hearted, and you can’t expect to be appreciated in the short run. You should do it if you believe it is the best way to give your kids and grandkids a better future. I think Santos wanted to give all Colombians different sorts of choices, and I think he was willing at the end to risk his standing in the short run to enhance Colombians’ standing and quality of life in the long term. Slowly but surely, a more peaceful and more normal life has returned, making it possible for people to develop the natural resources of the country.”—Bill Clinton

“With the finalizing of a peace agreement between Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the longest-running war in the Western Hemisphere is coming to an end. We have witnessed, once again, that a sustained commitment to diplomacy and reconciliation can overcome even the most entrenched conflicts. This accord is a tribute to the hard work and cooperation of countless Colombian leaders and citizens—across parties and administrations—who painstakingly laid the groundwork for this milestone. I especially want to commend President Juan Manuel Santos for his courageous leadership during four years of difficult negotiations. I think this is an achievement of historic proportions. It ultimately will be good for the region as well as the people of Colombia. It took a lot of courage and a lot of hard work by a lot of people. And we are very proud to have played a modest part in helping the dialogue go forward.”—Barack Obama

“Former President Santos has written a compelling memoir about Colombia’s tortuous path from a country riven by insurgency, militias, and conflict to an overall peace agreement approved in November 2016. While the volume is a gripping story of Santos’s personal role, it is more than that: The Battle for Peace is an invaluable textbook for politicians, diplomats, and generals about how to end bitter internal conflicts. Among the lessons offered are the need for extraordinary patience, a step-by-step approach, continuing to fight while negotiating, establishing at the outset what is not negotiable, and, ultimately, providing the opposition space in the political arena. The overall strategy and tactics—both military and political—for ending an internal conflict spelled out in detail by President Santos are applicable in any number of places around the world. The book is a fascinating read but, more important, it is an invaluable handbook.”—Robert M. Gates, US secretary of defense, 2007—2011

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