Too much talk of peace?
Colombian President Santos has called on the country´s media for prudence in its coverage of the forthcoming peace talks with FARC guerrillas.
Earlier this month the president confirmed his government had been in preliminary discussions with the Marxist rebels to agree a set agenda for official negotiations to end the 48 year conflict. Since that moment public interest in the story has ensured discussion and speculation has been ever-present across the networks.
Colombia is a young country and the vast majority have never known peace. The FARC´s ´struggle´ is the longest running internal conflict in the region and there is a real and understandable excitement about the possibility of a cessation of hostilities.
Yet there is also scepticism; the memories of the failures of previous talks are difficult to erase.
The political class has coalesced around President Santos and his negotiation team. Except, that is, for ex-president Álvaro Uribe, and those loyal to him, who continue to rage against the talks, choosing to cast Santos as a terrorists appeaser. For Uribistas, the FARC cannot be trusted to deliver; so long as the guerrillas continue to bomb, kill and recruit children, there is little sign of a willingness to lay down their arms, they argue.
The media too, save for the dwindling number of Uribista columnists, lend almost unconditional support to the peace process. The desire and yearning for peace is detectable in the wistful lines of the commentariat – a group usually inclined to more a jaundiced world view. It is far to say that this website too has struggled to conceal its hope for a new and peaceful Colombia.
Santos is right to call for caution and reserve.
To listen to Hora 20, to read Semana, or Nuevo Arco Iris, and to cast the eyes over publications generally less disposed to positive and progressive thought, it is difficult to escape the sense that the nation´s thought leaders are allowing their hope to overpower the natural break of scepticism.
It is as though journalists across the country have been let into a secret.Perhaps, we begin to ponder, a deal has already been done and the two actors are going through the process to avoid the accusation of a stitch up.
Neither Santos nor the FARC would be able to sell an agreement reached through private, clandestine means. The public negotiating tables of Oslo and Cuba are perfect embellishments to add the necessary political legitimacy to a secret liaison.
It is a little hard to believe this, of course, but amid such positivity it is equally difficult to hold the mind back, to stop it from racing to these conclusions.
But, taming the audaciously hopefully media is precisely what the president must do. Expectations must be managed if we are to protect the hand the government takes to the table.
We all want peace, but we want to get there with as few concessions to the FARC as possible. Negotiation requires nerve and a cold, poker face. But the excitement of the Colombian media is anything but cold and detached.
There are those who will also take Santos´ words to mean that those who attack the talks must also act with caution.
It is equally unhelpful, he appears to say, that those with radical and strident views against any form of negotiated agreement with the FARC are loudly making their voice heard, feeding scepticism.
As the discussions take place Santos will need to keep a constant thermometer to public opinion.
He needs to be able to sell any accord reached in Cuba to a public who in growing numbers appear unwilling to countenance compromise with the FARC.
The potential for former combatants to enter the political arena, and the very real likelihood of reduced sentences for those proven to have committed atrocious acts of terrorism are likely to form part of this agreement – and they will require real political skill to sell to a public that has been victimised over decades of war.
Neutral, cold and reflective coverage is a necessity, throughout the talks. We should not expect the media to play ball, however. News from the negotiating table will be poured over by eyes lasciviously coveting the conflict´s end; Santos´ plea is likely to go unheard.
We are in for months of continued and heightened debate. We are all anxious for peace, but Santos will want us to hold our cards a little closer to the chest. Is this too much to ask?