Colombia: some achievements and many pending five years after the signing of the peace agreement

On September 26, 2016, after four years of negotiations in Havana, Juan Manuel Santos, then president of Colombia, and Rodrigo Londoño, former guerrilla fighter and last commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP), signed in the city of Cartagena a historic peace agreement to end 52 years of conflict that left more than 45,000 dead and six million displaced.

This Sunday, September 26, it was five years since the signing of the first version of the peace agreement between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrillas. Although the progress is undeniable, the implementation of the pact remains uneven and there are still many pending issues.

Various sectors blame the government of current President Iván Duque for the difficult implementation of the key points of the agreement, which include comprehensive rural reform, political participation, the end of the conflict, the solution to the problem of illicit drugs and the question of reparation to victims.

According to him latest monitoring report on the implementation of the agreement, presented in January 2021 by senators and independent and opposition representatives, Colombia has seen a significant increase in the number of murders of social leaders, as well as an increase in forced displacement.

Similarly, regarding the issues of reparation to the victims and the provision of land, the report determined that the Colombian State would take dozens of years to compensate all the victims of the conflict, while only 0.08% has been assigned of the 3 million hectares planned for the Land Fund, the mechanism created to implement comprehensive rural reform.

But so far, the biggest failure in the implementation of the agreement according to human rights organizations has been the violence against demobilized ex-combatants, taking into account that 286 of them have been killed since the signing of the pact. The country also continues to face frequent attacks against civilians and the assassinations of local leaders.

The Institute for Development and Peace Studies (Indepaz) reported that only this year, until July 2021, 103 leaders and 31 signatories of the agreement were assassinated and 60 massacres occurred with 221 fatalities in the country.

In dialogue with France 24, the president of Indepaz, Camilo González Posso, warned that there is a “critical situation” in the application of the agreement and pointed out that progress does not exceed 20% of what was agreed, when initially an implementation of the 40 % at this point. The leader blamed the government and the ruling party for persisting in “dynamics of war, hate speech and ignorance of the legitimacy of the agreements.” At the same time, he warned about the “reproduction of violence”, with the assassinations of social leaders or massacres, which are not “as intense as before the agreement”, but are “harmful to society.”

Some progress, but still a long way to go

However, other sectors consider that the achievements of the agreement are tangible and that, despite the general skepticism fueled by the difficulties, positive steps are being taken to consolidate the peace process.

The greatest achievement of the pact is, without a doubt, the total demobilization of the guerrillas who completely surrendered their weapons; this despite the existence of some dissidents. In addition, in August 2017, the ex-guerrillas created their political party, initially called Fuerza Alternativa Revolucionaria del Común (FARC) and today renamed Comunes.

Other milestones include the creation from the agreement of institutions such as the Truth Commission or the Special Jurisdiction for Peace.

In an interview with France 24, the presidential adviser for Stabilization and Consolidation, Emilio Archila, one of the main people in charge of implementing the peace agreement, made a positive assessment of its implementation.

© France 24

To support his gaze, Archila relied on the United Nations Security Council, which “continues to acclaim the way in which President Iván Duque is carrying out the implementation of the agreements” and on the ambassador of the European Union in Colombia, Patricia Lombard, who “being with the president told him that this implementation is a success story.”

On the issue of violence against ex-guerrillas, Archila assured that “as a result of the implementation of the peace accords, Colombia is a much better country. Well, before the implementation began, the figures for homicides, kidnappings, antipersonnel mines, terrorist attacks and illegally recruited children were far higher ”.

The current government plan for the implementation of the agreement consists of the Development Programs with a Territorial Approach (PDET) on issues such as rural development, care for women and crop substitution, which are aimed at the 170 Colombian municipalities most affected by the violence.

But its critics say that the government has focused more on the reintegration of ex-combatants while other fundamental points such as rural reform and the substitution of illicit crops continue to be postponed.

Alejo Vargas, professor and researcher in the Department of Political Science of the National University, expressed in an interview with the EFE news agency that “the work of the counselor Archila has been very focused on one aspect of the agreement, but not on others, that for (the Government) were less politically important or attractive (…) In those there is no management or implementation by the Government. “

Among these aspects, he mentions the first and second points of the pact: “comprehensive rural reform” and “political participation and democratic opening to build peace”, which have not advanced much in the three years of the Duque government.

The expert stated that this is because the Colombian president “arises from (the) coalition of political forces that opposed” the treaty. In fact, this week, in his speech to the UN General Assembly, the president described the peace agreement as “fragile.”

With EFE and local media

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source https://pledgetimes.com/colombia-some-achievements-and-many-pending-five-years-after-the-signing-of-the-peace-agreement/