Colombian security forces. On 23 June 2016, the Colombian government and the FARC rebels signed a historic ceasefire deal, bringing them closer to ending more than five decades of conflict. Although the deal was rejected in the subsequent October plebiscite, the same month, President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to bring the country's more than 50-year-long civil war to an end. A revised peace deal was signed the following month and submitted to Congress for approval. The House of Representatives unanimously approved the plan on November 30, a day after the Senate also gave its backing. Armed conflict The armed conflict in Colombia emerged due to a combination of economic, political and social factors in the country. Various organizations and scholars that have studied the conflict trace it back to a long history of political violence, a high social and economic inequality, the lack of strong state capable of providing for its citizens (especially in the rural and remote areas of the country), conflict of political ideologies (mainly capitalist-right wing groups represented by the government against communist left wings groups represented by the armed groups), and an unequal distribution of land, power, and wealth in the country. The precise date of the conflict's beginning is still disputed, with some scholars claiming it started in 1958 with the start of the Frente Nacional ("National Front") and the end of La Violencia ("The Violence") meanwhile others believe it was in 1964 with the creation of the FARC and the end of the National Front. Some scholars even trace it back to the 1920s, with the unequal distribution of land in the country which has been one of the main causes and disputes of the conflict throughout the years. In the early period (1970s), guerrilla groups like the FARC, the ELN and others adopted a slogan of greater equality through communism, which came to be supported by many people, mostly in low-income and rural areas of the country. During these years the violence was low in intensity and occurred mainly in remote parts of the country. However, the balance of power and influence shifted in the mid-1980s when Colombia granted greater political and fiscal autonomy to local governments, strengthening the position of the Colombian Government in more remote regions of the country. In 1985, during peace talks between President Belisario Betancur and the FARC,