Richard Howitt (S&D). – Mr President, I have worked for peace and human rights in Colombia for all the time I have been a Member of the European Parliament, and I am proud to be part of the NGO ‘Justice for Colombia’. We should know with deep sadness the result in the referendum on the Colombian peace deal. Deeper still should be our determination to keep the quest for peace alive. European and international support is now more important than ever for this process.

Why would people vote for more bombings? Why would people vote for more kidnappings? Why would people vote for yet more bloodshed? I do not believe that they did. Too many people thought that this deal involved impunity which it never did, and perhaps they were told so by people who themselves fear going to jail and whose own impunity is their own motivation. If so, what happened last weekend may have delayed the day of justice, but that day will come, and so, for the Colombian people, will peace.