Waging Peace:  Colombia

Resolving Conflict

The Carter Center, together with the United Nations Development Program, supported the work of a dialogue group of distinguished citizens from Colombia and Ecuador to improve relations between the two countries since September 2007.

When Colombia and Ecuador broke diplomatic relations on March 3, 2008, after a Colombian military attack on a FARC camp inside Ecuador's sovereign territory, The Carter Center began working with the two nations to facilitate communication between them and encourage the resumption of relations.  On June 6, 2008, the presidents of both countries accepted a proposal from former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to renew diplomatic relations at the level of chargé d'affaires, immediately and without preconditions.

Ecuador and Colombia announced in September 2009 that they would begin steps to establish diplomatic relations at the charge d 'affaires level by the end of October, and during a press conference on Sept. 24, the nations' foreign ministers thanked The Carter Center and the Organization of American States for assisting their diplomatic efforts.

Read more about the dialogue process between Ecuador and Colombia >

The Carter Center's previous involvement with Colombia included an invitation to witness the return of 60 Colombian soldiers and 10 marines captured by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia in June 1997. Dr. Robert Pastor, then director of the Carter Center's Americas Program, witnessed the delivery along with members of the International Committee of the Red Cross, ambassadors from six countries, and representatives of the Colombian National Conciliation Commission. The release occurred as part of the government's agreement to end a yearlong clash by evacuating its military and ceding temporary control of an area the size of Connecticut.

Earlier, in September 1996, former U.S. President Carter, Dr. Pastor, and other senior Carter Center officials had met with Colombian leaders to discuss possible negotiations in Colombia's guerrilla war. The meetings included former Foreign Minister Augusto Ramirez Ocampo, who went on to become leader of the Conciliation Commission, and former Presidents Belisario Betancur and Alfonso Lopez Michelsen, who are members of the Center's Council of Presidents and Prime Ministers of the Americas.