Dear Editor,

The Jamaica Peace Council joins with all the peace-loving peoples of the world in our unwavering support for the historic peace agreement which has being signed by the Colombian Government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia- People’s Army(FARC-EP) in Havana Cuba on Thursday, June 23, 2016.

This agreement comes against a background of over close to four years of negotiations which was brokered by Cuba and other regional States, including Venezuela, after 51 years of conflict which saw more than 220,000 lives lost, six million people being displaced, with untold levels of suffering among the population.

As the President of Cuba Raul Castro noted at the signing of the agreement,“Peace is not a utopia; its a legitimate right of every human being and all peoples. It is a fundamental condition for the enjoyment of all human right, particularly the supreme right to life.”

In this regard, we need to guard zealously the significant landmark achievement of the declaration of our region as a Zone of Peace by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and to promote in all spheres of our lives, whether personal or otherwise, that in the face of differences, dialogue is of the essence.

Trevor G Brown

jamaicapeacecouncil@gmail.com