MONTEVIDEO, Feb 17 (NNN-XINHUA) — Former Uruguayan President Jose Mujica was honored by the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia for his contribution to Colombia’s peace process.
“We did nothing other than what we had to do,” Mujica said at a Thursday ceremony held at the University of the Republic in Uruguay’s capital Montevideo.
“I feel like I am a part of Colombia because it is our America,” he said, referring to the continent of the Americas.
The 87-year-old former guerrilla leader said Colombia must reject “the shortcut of violence” to bring about political change.
Mujica, who served as the Uruguayan president from 2010 to 2015, was honored for helping implement the peace accords that put an end to decades of fighting between the Colombian government and the now-disbanded Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia guerrilla group.
The peace agreement between the two sides was signed in 2016 in Havana, Cuba. — NNN-XINHUA
