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Outgoing President Santos calls on Congress to pass peace deal

President-elect Duque up for reigniting four decades of civil war

OUTGOING Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos is urging Congress to approve a Bill enshrining Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) procedures before anti-peace process president-elect Ivan Duque takes office.

“I want to call on Congress again to approve this procedure, to approve this law, so that the JEP can operate normally and swiftly,” President Santos said last night.

The JEP, which is at the heart of the peace process, was created as part of the agreement between the government and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) liberation movement to serve as a special judicial body for cases involving former guerillas.

“We owe it to the victims, but we also owe it to the international community that gave so much support to Colombia, to the United Nations that gave so much support to Colombia to reach this peace that must be stable and lasting,” said President Santos.

Mr Duque’s supporters in Congress want to put off the vote until after July 20, when the new Congress convenes and the Senate has heeded the president-elect’s call to postpone the Bill indefinitely.

President Santos sent several ministers, including Interior Minister Guillermo Rivera, Defence Minister Luis Carlos Villegas and Finance Minister Mauricio Cardenas to the Senate to try to sway the vote on Monday, but all their statements proved ineffective.

Mr Rivera refused to concede defeat, saying: “We will insist … We have an unwavering commitment to legally implement the peace accord and, if by Wednesday this project is not approved, we will call extra sessions.”

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