Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has met with former president Alvaro Uribe today, the first time since 2010 that the two have met, with an eye toward settling their differences on the heavily contested peace deal with FARC, aimed at ending a 52-year war.
Santos’ government negotiated the peace deal with FARC to much fanfare, and polls had shown the referendum leading in voter sentiment nearly two to one. Over the weekend, however, the referendum came up with a narrow no vote, in no small part because of Uribe’s heavy campaigning against the deal.
Uribe argued the deal made too many concessions to FARC, and claimed after today’s meeting that Santos had shown willingness to make changes to the peace deal, which Uribe says will “include all Colombians.” He offered no details on the changes to be made.
Both Santos and FARC have insisted they will keep respecting the ceasefire, and will work toward saving the pact. Uribe is believed to want to roll back promises of amnesty for FARC, however, and it’s unclear whether FARC is going to be okay with that.