The headline and introduction could have addressed the violent and difficult reality for many marginalized groups in Colombia since the deal signing. Yes the armed conflict is technically over and Colombia achieved its lowest homicide rates in years. However, the post peace deal reality is nuanced.
A Stanford quantitative analysis found that many municipalities that formerly had FARC presence actually experienced a surge in violence after the 2016 deal, driven by armed group competition over coca cultivation and illegal mining territories. https://purl.stanford.edu/gh221kg2848
the disarmament process created growing dissident units, spurred illegal mining and logging, and Colombia’s coca production areas became battlegrounds for FARC dissidents, paramilitary successor groups, other guerrilla groups, and new criminal gangs. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13533312.2019.1677159
Massacres increased after the deal: the UN recorded 11 massacres in 2017, 29 in 2018, 36 in 2019, and at least 42 in 2020 — the highest since the signing.
Social leaders and ex-combatants were systematically targeted: NGO INDEPAZ counting 872 murders between 2016 and September 2019.  Over 320 former FARC members who signed the peace deal have been killed since 2016, with 2018 being the deadliest year.  https://insightcrime.org/news/overview-violence-social-leaders-colombia/
I know this isn’t all positive but to ignore it can distort a painful reality for many.
You're right - the agreement ended the war between the state and the FARC. It didn't end armed violence in Colombia, and in the territories the FARC vacated the scramble between dissidents, the ELN and criminal groups over coca and mining routes has been vicious. But I also think this is the exact thing President Santos keeps returning to?
He said that peacemaking took nine months but that peacebuilding may take generations, and that reconciliation is the hard, unfinished phase. The interview was mostly about his account of how a war was closed out, I don't think it was a state-of-the-nation report, we just don't have enough background on Colombia to even try something like that!
I think two things can be true at once though: a 60-year war ended, and the peace is still being fought for.
Thanks for contributing this important information. I came here to say the same thing. I teach English to immigrants, many who are refugees from Buenaventura, Colombia.
Here’s a summary from Euria AI: While the "peace" agreement with the FARC reduced the intensity of large-scale battles, it did not stop the violence. The number of people fleeing within Colombia remains in the hundreds of thousands annually. The number of people leaving the country as refugees has grown steadily, particularly since 2020, driven by the same underlying issues of violence, lack of state presence, and economic collapse in regions like Buenaventura.
Sources: UNHCR Global Trends, IOM Colombia Displacement Reports, OECD International Migration Outlook 2025.
Thanks Gwen and yes, Colombia still has one of the largest internally displaced populations on Earth - your students are proof of that.
I think that’s exactly the distinction President Santos makes in the interview, between peacemaking and peacebuilding. The deal with the FARC was the fast part, nine months to disarm. The peacebuilding, the real reconciliation and the state actually reaching places like Buenaventura, is the slow part, and by his own account it may take generations.
Thank you for this article. It was so inspiring and it gave me hope. Hope that visionaries may right the course of our country and the world toward peace respect and justice.
I find this framing a bit odd for a “solutions-focused” outlet.
It’s true that the number of armed conflicts is historically high, but that’s only one slice of the data. In terms of deaths, today’s conflicts are nowhere near the levels seen during Korea, Vietnam, or even parts of the Cold War.
Presenting the headline as “more conflicts than at any point since WWII” without that context creates a much more negative picture than the full data supports.
It feels like selective framing rather than a genuinely balanced or solutions-focused perspective.
Hi Asgeir, a solutions outlet that ignored the bad numbers would be worthless! On this subject the numbers are grim: there are more armed conflicts now than at any point since 1946, and battle deaths are rising, not falling. 2025 was among the deadliest years since the Cold War, roughly 245,000 people killed, up from 188,000 the year before.
What we tried to do here was go and find one of the few living leaders who has actually ended a war, and ask them how. That's a possible solution for other conflicts, and an idea/approach we should try to get more visibility. Sit with the worst of it, then look for the people who've found a way out of it.
Thank you, FTN team, for this illuminated interview, and for sharing it with us. It was to me a mix of breathtaking, and awesome - I feel gratitude for all that worked so hard, sacrificed, and believed to turn visions of peace into practical reality.
There is so much quotable in this interview: I will be sure to share with friends and contacts.
We've seen that providing spaces for forgiveness, understanding, and accountability are vital to peacebuilding, as is the capacity to listen, and walk the path of service collaboratively with others in humility.
We've also seen in this interview that cultivating a sense not just of connectedness with people and with the environment around us, but also a sense of the sacred in everything, is essential for creating the groundwork of peaceful societies.
Understanding, embracing and propagating a concept of the oneness of humanity is foundational to building vibrant communities and providing the very spirit itself which animates civilisations in which peace has become an integral part of every-day life.
Thank you, FTN team, in particular for focusing attention on the truly remarkable developments that have originated from within Colombia. Not only is there this marvelous living example of a pathway to end war and reconcile; not only has this incredible gift of the Sustainable Development Goals come into being ... but also Colombia has created the seeds which became the rural development process called FUNDAEC, which in turn inspired the Preparation for Social Action programme, and was the direct inspiration and antecedent of the Ruhi institute process which fosters agency and collaborative learning and action all over the globe today.
Please watch with your friends and neighbours this 50 minute video produced on the 50th anniversary of FUNDAEC. Local language, with English subtitles.
Thanks Andrew glad you enjoyed it - we felt the same way! Had a bit of a dig around into FUNDAEC, amazing. For those that don’t know - it’s a rural education movement that started there in the 70s and went on to shape similar work across dozens of countries. Wish I had known about it to bring up in the interview! Thanks for the video. I'll watch it.
I think the world owes Colombia more than it realises.
Thanks so much for the transcript. I’m a fast reader with hearing problems, and am very grateful that I don’t have to miss this wonderful podcast.
The headline and introduction could have addressed the violent and difficult reality for many marginalized groups in Colombia since the deal signing. Yes the armed conflict is technically over and Colombia achieved its lowest homicide rates in years. However, the post peace deal reality is nuanced.
A Stanford quantitative analysis found that many municipalities that formerly had FARC presence actually experienced a surge in violence after the 2016 deal, driven by armed group competition over coca cultivation and illegal mining territories. https://purl.stanford.edu/gh221kg2848
the disarmament process created growing dissident units, spurred illegal mining and logging, and Colombia’s coca production areas became battlegrounds for FARC dissidents, paramilitary successor groups, other guerrilla groups, and new criminal gangs. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13533312.2019.1677159
Massacres increased after the deal: the UN recorded 11 massacres in 2017, 29 in 2018, 36 in 2019, and at least 42 in 2020 — the highest since the signing.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/2/colombia-sees-surge-in-mass-killings-in-2020-un
Social leaders and ex-combatants were systematically targeted: NGO INDEPAZ counting 872 murders between 2016 and September 2019.  Over 320 former FARC members who signed the peace deal have been killed since 2016, with 2018 being the deadliest year.  https://insightcrime.org/news/overview-violence-social-leaders-colombia/
I know this isn’t all positive but to ignore it can distort a painful reality for many.
You're right - the agreement ended the war between the state and the FARC. It didn't end armed violence in Colombia, and in the territories the FARC vacated the scramble between dissidents, the ELN and criminal groups over coca and mining routes has been vicious. But I also think this is the exact thing President Santos keeps returning to?
He said that peacemaking took nine months but that peacebuilding may take generations, and that reconciliation is the hard, unfinished phase. The interview was mostly about his account of how a war was closed out, I don't think it was a state-of-the-nation report, we just don't have enough background on Colombia to even try something like that!
I think two things can be true at once though: a 60-year war ended, and the peace is still being fought for.
Thanks for contributing this important information. I came here to say the same thing. I teach English to immigrants, many who are refugees from Buenaventura, Colombia.
Here’s a summary from Euria AI: While the "peace" agreement with the FARC reduced the intensity of large-scale battles, it did not stop the violence. The number of people fleeing within Colombia remains in the hundreds of thousands annually. The number of people leaving the country as refugees has grown steadily, particularly since 2020, driven by the same underlying issues of violence, lack of state presence, and economic collapse in regions like Buenaventura.
Sources: UNHCR Global Trends, IOM Colombia Displacement Reports, OECD International Migration Outlook 2025.
Thanks Gwen and yes, Colombia still has one of the largest internally displaced populations on Earth - your students are proof of that.
I think that’s exactly the distinction President Santos makes in the interview, between peacemaking and peacebuilding. The deal with the FARC was the fast part, nine months to disarm. The peacebuilding, the real reconciliation and the state actually reaching places like Buenaventura, is the slow part, and by his own account it may take generations.
Great article.
We are blessed to have so many people like this.
Tx for all you do.
Lets hope you are reporting on a $2 Trillion IPO for Earhtx soon.
Now that could put a smile on those who care for the wellbeing of this planet, all life including us.
Thank you for this article. It was so inspiring and it gave me hope. Hope that visionaries may right the course of our country and the world toward peace respect and justice.
I find this framing a bit odd for a “solutions-focused” outlet.
It’s true that the number of armed conflicts is historically high, but that’s only one slice of the data. In terms of deaths, today’s conflicts are nowhere near the levels seen during Korea, Vietnam, or even parts of the Cold War.
Presenting the headline as “more conflicts than at any point since WWII” without that context creates a much more negative picture than the full data supports.
It feels like selective framing rather than a genuinely balanced or solutions-focused perspective.
Hi Asgeir, a solutions outlet that ignored the bad numbers would be worthless! On this subject the numbers are grim: there are more armed conflicts now than at any point since 1946, and battle deaths are rising, not falling. 2025 was among the deadliest years since the Cold War, roughly 245,000 people killed, up from 188,000 the year before.
What we tried to do here was go and find one of the few living leaders who has actually ended a war, and ask them how. That's a possible solution for other conflicts, and an idea/approach we should try to get more visibility. Sit with the worst of it, then look for the people who've found a way out of it.
Thank you, FTN team, for this illuminated interview, and for sharing it with us. It was to me a mix of breathtaking, and awesome - I feel gratitude for all that worked so hard, sacrificed, and believed to turn visions of peace into practical reality.
There is so much quotable in this interview: I will be sure to share with friends and contacts.
We've seen that providing spaces for forgiveness, understanding, and accountability are vital to peacebuilding, as is the capacity to listen, and walk the path of service collaboratively with others in humility.
We've also seen in this interview that cultivating a sense not just of connectedness with people and with the environment around us, but also a sense of the sacred in everything, is essential for creating the groundwork of peaceful societies.
Understanding, embracing and propagating a concept of the oneness of humanity is foundational to building vibrant communities and providing the very spirit itself which animates civilisations in which peace has become an integral part of every-day life.
Thank you, FTN team, in particular for focusing attention on the truly remarkable developments that have originated from within Colombia. Not only is there this marvelous living example of a pathway to end war and reconcile; not only has this incredible gift of the Sustainable Development Goals come into being ... but also Colombia has created the seeds which became the rural development process called FUNDAEC, which in turn inspired the Preparation for Social Action programme, and was the direct inspiration and antecedent of the Ruhi institute process which fosters agency and collaborative learning and action all over the globe today.
Please watch with your friends and neighbours this 50 minute video produced on the 50th anniversary of FUNDAEC. Local language, with English subtitles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NX4-zciYbw
Frankly the world has so many reasons to be grateful to the people of Colombia.
Thanks Andrew glad you enjoyed it - we felt the same way! Had a bit of a dig around into FUNDAEC, amazing. For those that don’t know - it’s a rural education movement that started there in the 70s and went on to shape similar work across dozens of countries. Wish I had known about it to bring up in the interview! Thanks for the video. I'll watch it.
I think the world owes Colombia more than it realises.
Thank you for an inspiring interview. Reading this has been a great way to start my day.
May our hearts break open as a butterfly emerges from a cocoon.