Exchange to Change January 2017 | Page 12

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