Colombia has been on a massive political and emotional roller coaster. A peace accord to end the 52 years civil war was signed on 26 September. It was a peace accord that Colombians then rejected in a referendum on 2 October.
Then a few days later President Juan Manuel Santos — whose referendum was rejected — became the recipient of the 2016 Nobel Peace. All of this happened not in a hundred years, but in the space of just a few weeks.
Let's start with the referendum. For those who know a bit about Latin American politics the defeat of Santos in the referendum was — paraphrasing the Colombian 1982 Nobel Literature Prize Gabriel Garcia Marquez — a chronicle of a defeat foretold. It was not unexpected. The success rate of Latin American referendums, called by the executive, is below 55 per cent.
Last March Bolivia's Evo Morales, in a quest for a fourth term in office, lost his own referendum despite his massive popularity. Guatemala's 1999 referendum to introduce major constitutional reforms, held three years after the peace agreement that ended the civil war, was rejected by 91.8 per cent of voters.
And even the referendum designed 'not to be lost' by the former Chilean dictator General Pinochet bit the dust when the 'no' option ended his rule in 1989.
So while the result of Colombia's referendum was not a shock, it has produced anxiety.
During this roller coaster week, Colombians had a well-deserved reprieve when the national soccer team defeated Paraguay one-nil in the 2018 world cup qualifier. If football, the most popular sport in Colombia, can be used as a metaphor, one might say that after the referendum, the peace process has headed into extra time.
In football's extra time, usually played after an inconclusive 90 minutes, the team able to maintain calm and find a new burst of energy will probably win. And this is exactly what the peace process has been injected with — calm and new energy — after Santos was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
"In order to the end the conflict Colombians have to be persuaded that peace is not a hollow concept. It will be a challenge to persuade the skeptics, despite the substantial decrease in violence over the last few months."
The prize has stretched international support for Santos and has left those opposing the peace process — primarily former president Álvaro Uribe — in a state of solitude.