A final peace agreement between Colombia's government and a national guerilla movement is to be signed Monday, bringing to an end the longest-running insurgency in the Western hemisphere.
“It's the end of the last full-blown guerrilla warfare inspired originally by Cuban and Soviet ideology against democratic institutions in this hemisphere,” is how it is characterized by a senior U.S. administration official.
The conflict between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), whose funding was primarily derived from the country's illicit cocaine industry, is blamed for leaving dead more than 250,000 people and displacing at least five million.
Sixteen heads of state and two dozen foreign ministers, including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, are expected to attend the signing ceremony at the convention center in the Caribbean port city of Cartagena, founded in the 16th century.