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July 25th, 2017 
Awake Goy 
nsnbc : Members of the demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (FARC-EP) said Monday, July 24, that they will launch a political party on September 1. The launch of the party will be a major step as the FARC’s transition from a guerrilla to a political party and former FARC guerrilla’s return to civilian life.
“We will publicly launch the party on September 1 in the Plaza de Bolivar,” in Bogota, told FARC commander Julian Gallo, a.k.a. Carlos Antonio Lozada during a news conference held by the group, almost a month after it completed its disarmament.
Gallo said the group had been working on the details of the “great political-cultural act.” FARC chief negotiator Ivan Marquez, for his part, said “We made peace to participate in politics”.
The FARC political party’s policies and name will be decided at a congress at the end of August. The disarmament last month by the roughly 7,000 members of Colombia’s biggest leftist guerrilla group under the 2016 peace accord brought a complete end to 52 years of war between the FARC-EP and the government. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for reaching the historic deal with the FARC that was signed last November.
The accord was narrowly rejected by Colombians in a referendum last year before it was redrafted and pushed through congress. The country’s only remaining rebel group, the smaller ELN, is currently following the path set by the FARC to negotiate a peace deal aiming to disarm and demobilize. The civil conflict has left 260,000 dead. About 60,000 Colombians remain unaccounted for and seven million have been displaced in the conflict.
Earlier this year Colombia’s Senate adopted legislation that guarantees the demobilized FARC members a minimum of five seats in the Senate and five seats in the lower house of parliament. The former FARC members’ new party will participate in the 2018 elections with these guaranteed seats. The guaranteed seats – considered as a startup aid – can be maintained until the 2016 elections. After that the new party will have to compete for votes like any other political party.
CHL – nsnbc 24.07.2017
Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2017/07/24/colombias-demobilized-farc-to-launch-political-party-on-september-1/
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