12 INTERVIEW
His messages revolved around fear and were easier to promote than the more challenging message of President Juan Manuel Santos who asked the Colombian people to work together with a rebel group . In the end people forgot about the content of the peace agreement and only took into consideration the historical successes and mistakes of Uribe and Santos .
E2C : Do you think the Nobel Committee made a strategic decision to award President Santos the Nobel Peace Prize or was it a premature decision ?
CRP : I think the Nobel Peace Prize came at a key moment . I consider it as a way of the international community to send three messages . First , it says to the Colombian people that they deserve to live in peace . Second , it says to the government to go ahead with the implementation of the agreement . Third , it says to the leaders of the ‘ no campaign ’ that the international community believes in this process and is going to support the post-conflict process . I think Santos realized after the bad result that it wasn ’ t a great idea proposing this referendum because that put at risk what has been so far the most serious peace process in our history . But , I believe the award made Santos feel confident to make a second version and give this second version to Congress .
E2C : A revised peace agreement was eventually approved by Congress without a referendum . Does this agreement have the support of the people ?
CRP : After the referendum , Santos sat together with the leaders of the no-campaign and they revised the peace agreement . This led to a second version of the peace agreement which in theory includes the key changes required by the opposition . Now , he indeed skipped the electorate and gave the second version directly to Congress . The Congress approved it with 100 % of the votes because Uribe and his party members decided to abstain , neither to approve nor reject it . There is a risk that some people , or maybe a lot of people , think that Santos does not respect the decision of the Colombian people . There is continuous criticism from the leaders of the no-campaign , such as Uribe , arguing that the new agreement is not legal . This second peace agreement and the way it was approved may cause difficulties in the implementation of the peace agreement once we are in a postconflict stage . However , let us not forget that a significant number of the population supports the peace process .
E2C : Which result surprised you most : Brexit , Trump or the rejection of the Colombian peace agreement ? Why ?
CRP : The three were very surprising ,
Ivory Coast
Date : 30 / 10 / 2016 Ref : Constitutional referendum Turnout : 42.42 % Outcome : 93.42 % for , 6.58 % against
Grenada
Date : 24 / 11 / 2016 Ref : constitutional referendum Turnout : 71.24 % Outcome : 28-43 % for , 56-76 % against
Colombia Bulgaria
Exchange to change January 2017
Date : 02 / 10 / 2016 Ref : Peace agreement Turnout : 37.44 % Outcome : 49.8 % for , 50.2 % against
Date : 06 / 11 / 2016 Ref : Constitutional Referendum Turnout : 50.81 % Outcome : 63-74 % for , 15-26 % against , 10 % blank