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December 21st, 2015 
Awake Goy 
nsnbc : The Colombian government held a ceremony in which it officially asked for forgiveness for the paramilitary massacre on November 11, 1988 where 44 leftists were killed. The ceremony follows a similar gesture from Colombia’s FARC-EP as part of the ongoing peace process that aims at ending over five decades of civil war in the country.
The massacre on November 11, 1988 was one of many carried out by military, government associated paramilitaries as well as the FARC-EP. The administration of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos formally admitted responsibility for the death of 44 in the town of Segovia in 1988.
Both the FARC-EP and the government perceive the ceremonies and admittance of responsibility for atrocities as acts of repentance that aim at healing the deep wounds that have been inflicted on people of Colombia by and on all sides of the 51-year-long civil war.
President Manuel Santos’ adviser on human rights, Guillermo Rivera, formally asked for forgiveness for the massacre in Segovia that had been ordered by a Liberal Party politician who aimed at the extermination of local supporters of the communist Patriotic Union Party.
The 1988 massacre was the first major massacre carried out by paramilitary forces with ties to member of the House of Representatives, Cesar Perez and others, who perceived leftist parties and grassroots movements as threat to their political ambitions and as threat to the United States hegemony that backed right-wing forces in the country.
The massacre in Segovia was reportedly financed by Ranchers from Antioquia while paramilitaries as well as local police forces carried out the killings. In 2013, the year after the launch of the Colombian peace talks, Perez was sentenced to 30 years in prison. The paramilitary group that carried out the killings in the town of 20,000 was a group that called itself “Death to Northeastern Revolutionaries” (MRD).
Both the government’s and the FARC-EP’s pleads for forgiveness are part of an agreement that is part of the ongoing peace talks in Havana, Cuba. Both parties agreed to also visit victimized communities for formally show repentance and to plead for forgiveness.
The 51-year-long civil war in Colombia has cost more than 260,000 lives while a total of 7.4 million Colombians, more than 14% of the population have been victimized by violence.
On January 1, 2016 a bilateral ceasefire between the government and the FARC-EP comes into effect as one of the major achievements of the peace talks that were launched in 2012.
Agreements reached during the peace talks in the Cuban capital Havana encompass an agreement on land reform, an agreement about political reform and the FARC-EP’s and grassroots movements political participation after the singing of the final peace accord, an agreement on illicit drugs, the controlled growth of e.g. Coca, and programs that enable farmers to grow other crops without suffering severe economic loss.
In late November President Juan Manuel Santos sent his brother, the renown Colombian journalist Enrique Santos as personal envoy to Havana. Enrique Santos reports directly to President Santos and acts as liaison between Juan Manuel Santos and FARC-EP leader Timoshenko.
The initiative was taken to overcome risks and difficulties associated with the FARC-EP’s decommissioning of its weapons and the concentration of FARC-EP fighters to monitor the decommissioning.
Both the FARC-EP and the government expressed that they were aware that this crucial stage renders both FARC-EP fighters and populations whom the FARC-EP traditionally protected against ultra-right-wing paramilitaries and armed drug cartels vulnerable. Both sides have attempted to implement the bilateral ceasefire since December 16, hoping for peaceful Christmas holidays.
CH/L – nsnbc 21.12.2015
Source Article from http://nsnbc.me/2015/12/21/colombian-government-asks-for-forgiveness-for-1988-massacre/
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