A messy but necessary peace

FOR longer than most Latin Americans have been alive, Colombia has been at war. The conflict has claimed perhaps 220,000 lives, displaced millions and made Latin America’s third-most-populous country far poorer than it would otherwise have been (see ). Its main belligerent was the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a Stalinist rural army that outlived the cold war by turning to drug-dealing and extortion. Now, at last, Colombians have a chance to make peace. In doing so, they could offer an example to other war-racked countries.The agreement between the government of President Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC, signed in the presence of a dozen heads of state in a moving ceremony in Cartagena on September 26th, carries an unavoidable tension: between justice and peace. If Colombia had insisted that the guerrillas who maimed and murdered be properly punished for their crimes, they would have no incentive to lay down their arms. That is why in Northern Ireland, South Africa and Central America the settlement of armed conflicts involved amnesties.