BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A stunning referendum defeat for a peace deal with leftist rebels leaves Colombians with no Plan B to save an accord that sought to bring an end to a half century of hostilities.
Instead of winning by an almost two-to-one margin on Sunday as pre-election polls had predicted, the accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia lost by a razor-thin margin, 49.8 percent to 50.2 percent.
Both President Juan Manuel Santos and leaders of the FARC, after four years of grueling negotiations, vowed to push ahead, giving no hint they want to resume a war that has already killed 220,000 people and displaced 8 million.
"I won't give up. I'll continue search for peace until the last moment of my mandate," Santos said in a televised address appealing for calm.
And the guerrilla leader known as Timochenko released a short video message reiterating the group's willingness to abide by a permanent cease-fire, though he indicated no willingness to re-open the deal, saying the referendum vote has "no legal effect whatsoever."
He said the final accord had already been signed and deposited with the Swiss Federal Council in Bern as a special humanitarian agreement between warring parties under the Geneva Conventions.
But it's not clear how the already unpopular Santos and FARC leaders can save the deal following the political earthquake, comparable to Britain's vote to exit the European Union. His chief negotiator, Humberto de la Calle, offered his resignation Monday, assuming what he called "complete responsibility" for the defeat.
It's unclear whether Santos will accept the offer or, as he previously announced, send him to Cuba with other negotiators to confer with FARC's top leaders, who watched the results with disbelief after ordering drinks and cigars at Club Havana, once Cuba's most exclusive beach club.
"The FARC deeply regret that the destructive power of those who sow hatred and revenge have influenced the Colombian people's opinion," said Timochenko, the FARC's top commander.
The loss for the government was even more shocking considering the huge support for the accord among foreign leaders, who have heralded it as a model for a world beset by political violence and terrorism. Many heads of state as well as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry were present when Santos and Timochenko signed the deal less than a week ago in an elaborate, emotion-filled ceremony in the historic city of Cartagena.
"In Cartagena, I witnessed the profound desire of the Colombian people to end the violence," Ban Ki-moon told reporters in Geneva, adding that he urgently dispatched his representative to the peace talks to Cuba for consultations. "I count on them to press ahead until they achieve secure and lasting peace."
U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby also expressed backing for Santos' plan for "a broad dialogue" in the search for peace.
"Colombians have expressed their commitment to settle their differences through institutions and dialogue rather than violence," he said.
Santos' former boss and chief rival, former President Alvaro Uribe, led the grass-roots campaign against the accord. With none of the government's huge PR machine, an angry Uribe gave voice to millions of Colombians, many of them victims of the FARC like him, who bristled at provisions in the 297-page accord sparing rebels jail time if they confessed their crimes and instead reserved them 10 seats in Congress.