Colombia: Writing on Ice?

The first groups of ex-combatants of the extinct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are in Bogotá as part of the 'Pilgrimage for life and peace', a mobilization to demand that the Government comply with the Peace Agreements signed in Havana.

Nearly 3,000 former FARC members - turned into a political party - have arrived in Bogotá with a similar purpose previously made by the peasant and indigenous social movement called Minga to expose the violent acts carried out by paramilitaries with the complicity of the army in different areas of the nation, the lack of support to vulnerable groups and the failure by Bogota to comply with the peace agreement signed four years ago in Havana between the FARC and the government of Juan Miguel Santos.

This time, the ex-combatants denounced the systematic murder of at least 235 of their comrades since the signing of the agreement, the total detachment from the current government in this regard and, like the Minga, request a direct meeting with President Iván Duque, who had refused to talk to the social entity.

The former guerrilla members will use this chance to explain the situation created by the continuation of the official force policy, to meet with the victims of violence and even with relatives of soldiers killed in action with the FARC, regardless of the request for a hearing with Duque.

Personally, I don’t believe the president is interested in a solution in this regard, because he still remains at the peak of a situation of power, protected by the presence of the North American military in nine bases scattered in the South American nation, the keeping and training of the organization by the army of paramilitary forces turned into a murderous instrument, and the increasingly enthroned policy of hatred against any kind of opposition, with the complicity of the most important media.

As we all know, but it’s good to say over and over again, former combatants reached a historic peace agreement with the government in 2016 that allowed them to form a political party in exchange for handing over their weapons and fulfilling other points of the extensive agreement, which they have had abided to the letter, the central government on the contrary has continued to allow paramilitary groups, refuses to release political prisoners, and does not pay the expenses caused by the settlement of revolutionaries in new places, among other non-compliances.

The peace agreement, signed in Havana, gave certain hope of ending a conflict that had lasted for more than five decades, leaving at least 250,000 dead, 60,000 missing and more than seven million displaced.

Enrique Santiago, the legal adviser of the organization of former members of FARC had already warned that the wealthy leaders of the reaction were offering on that occasion a million dollars for the death of each member of the Secretariat.

But nothing was done, and now there are already reported, 235 leaders and activists of the entity assassinated, not including the about 400 reported by other peasant and worker organizations.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff