From the outset of his presidency in 2010, Juan Manuel Santos has pursued one overriding objective: ending Colombia’s five-decade-old armed conflict with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Formal negotiations began nearly three years ago, and though both sides made progress on a five-point agenda, one exceedingly tricky issue — with huge political and legal implications — stubbornly stood in the way: whether the FARC commanders would be prosecuted and would accept paying a price for their many crimes.
On Wednesday, Sept. 23, a novel formula for addressing that issue — commonly referred to as “transitional justice” — was announced in Havana, Cuba, where the negotiations have been taking place. A glowing President Raúl Castro stood between Santos and FARC leader Timoleón Jiménez, alias “Timochenko,” as the two longtime bitter foes clasped hands. Santos was en route to address the U.N. General Assembly in New York, where the transcendence of this breakthrough accord will surely be his chief message to the world.