The 50-year conflict between the Colombian government and the country's leftist guerrilla may be coming to an end, as President Juan Manuel Santos and the leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) announced a breakthrough on Wednesday in Havana.

Bogotá and the main rebel group agreed on a framework for investigating rights abuses, a main sticking point in their negotiations up to this point, Santos announced in a brief address after a personal meeting with FARC commander Rodrigo Londoño, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The deal, announced on Wednesday, stipulates that legal cases against guerrillas will be reviewed by a specially designated Tribunal for Peace, made up of Colombian and some international judges. The body will collect testimony and evidence, make sure that victims are compensated, and deliver sanctions to those who committed serious crimes, such as mass killings.

"The head of the FARC secretariat and I have agreed that the negotiations must concluded in more than six months," Santos announced, according to a statement published by the Colombian government. "I have come to Havana today to tell Colombians -- and particularly the victims (of the conflict) -- that we have achieved a deal on the bases of a system of justice."

He was confident the agreement would "achieve the highest possible level of justice for the victims," Santos added. The FARC had also agreed to put down their arms within 60 days of a final deal, the president underlined.

The rebel group's commander-in-chief Timoleón Jiménez traveled to Havana to sign the deal in the presence of Cuban President Raúl Castro, its delegation announced in a statement.

"The current peace process is the only one in the world that has agreed an Integral System that gathers and relates all the elements described by international law as 'inalienable rights of victims': truth, justice, reparation and non-repetition," Jiménez noted.

Even though Wednesday's ceremony marked the first time Santos has appeared beside Jiménez, the Colombian president insisted that "the elusive FARC commander" remained an enemy, the Washington Post cautioned. But, "today we are making progress in the same direction, toward the most noble goal a society can have: peace," Santos said.