Colombia will stop air raids on Marxist FARC rebels for a month, President Juan Manuel Santos announced — a major stride in a peace process aimed at ending Latin America’s longest-running civil war. Peace talks have been under way since 2012 but the president’s gesture was an unprecedented step towards ending the conflict, which has killed more than 200,000 people and uprooted more than five million. “To start the de-escalation of the conflict, I have decided to order the minister of defense and armed forces commanders to stop bombing raids on FARC camps for a month,” Santos said late Tuesday in a television address. The FARC declared an indefinite, unilateral ceasefire on December 18, but Santos had until now refused to reciprocate without a definitive peace deal.

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