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Last week, the Global Society had its first meeting of the year. We were fortunate to host Andrei Gomez-Suarez, who gave a fascinating talk on the history of Colombia and the development of its peace process journey. Mr Gomez-Suarez co-founded an organisation called Rodeemos el Diálogo, based in Bogotá, which hosts peace breakfasts enabling Colombians to talk openly and freely, whilst really getting to know their country. ‘ReD’ also helped to uncover the statistic that 8 million people have been affected by the conflict.

Mr Gomez-Suarez talked about how Las FARC finally came to the table and signed a historic peace agreement under President Santos, helping to end the brutal conflict that was tearing the country apart. However, with the recent regeneration of “Las FARC 2.0”, he predicts that the country has until 2022 to return to peace talks before future generations experience the violence that has typified the conflict.

It truly was a remarkably eye-opening talk about a pressing issue, especially for the UK government which has invested vast amounts in the economy, hoping for peace and opportunity. Mr Gomez-Suarez suggested that Colombia is on delicate ground, with an uncertain future ahead.