What is being written about the Peace Process in Colombia?
96% of the ex-combatants of the Farc bet on entrepreneurship.
The director of the Agency for Reincorporation and Normalization, Andrés Stapper, made public the results of the National Registry of Reincorporation, which surveyed 10415 ex-combatants in 431 municipalities. The study pointed out that only 4% of those who left their weapons want to enter the labor market, the vast majority dream of doing their own projects. National Council of Reincorporation, a joint body between the Government and the Farc, has approved 23 productive projects that had benefited 1,600 people with an investment of 18 billion pesos.
The pace of implementation of the Peace Agreement has decreased in recent months: Instituto Kroc
In its third report on follow-up to what was agreed in Havana, the entity reveals that 31% of the agreed commitments have not started their implementation process. He says that the main concern continues to be security guarantees for social leaders and stresses that the transitional justice system is underway and in the process of territorial deployment.
The report reveals that of the 578 provisions included in the Final Agreement, 400 have begun their implementation. However, not all with the same level of progress. Of these, 23% (133) has already been fully implemented, 12% (69) is in the intermediate phase and 34% (194) is in the minimum phase. That means that 69% of what was agreed in Havana is ongoing despite the difficulties.
ELN announces the cessation of hostilities for Easter.
The ELN affirms that it is looking for a negotiated solution to its confrontation with the Government. "We reiterate our decision to move towards peace, to continue with the dialogues and the round table, and to immediately agree on a Bilateral Ceasefire that will generate humanitarian relief for the communities most affected by the conflict.
This would be the first attempt at rapprochement in broken government-Eln relations in three months.
Defending JEP. Marches, movements and calls.
This March 18 in Bogota, Colombians took to the streets to unanimously support the Special Jurisdiction for Peace after the objections of Ivan Duque to reform it.
After the marches that marked the second semester of 2018 - as the student and the workers - comes an unprecedented mobilization: the defense of citizenship for the survival of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) and the implementation of the Agreement of Peace signed with the old guerrilla of the Farc. Today, from five in the afternoon, the public squares of the different cities of the country will become a scene of demonstration in favor of the JEP.
For the minga to cease, Duke must commit to peace
The ethnic demonstration in Cauca, Caldas, Huila and Antioquia has already lasted 10 days and the violence escalated. Yesterday an agent of the Esmad died. The indigenous minga of 2019 may be one of the strongest in recent times. The protest has grown dramatically and the government, with confusing messages, has not managed to find a way out to avoid stoppages and roadblocks. The panorama has turned gray: on Tuesday afternoon, Boris Alexander Benítez, agent of the Mobile Riot Squad (Esmad), died in the midst of confrontations. Although there are still no official figures, in the media one has been positioned: 25 wounded and one dead.
Objeciones del presidente Duque a la JEP: más políticas que de conveniencia.
El presidente Duque objetó seis de los 159 artículos de la estatutaria de la JEP y anunció que presentará una reforma constitucional para modificar el acto legislativo 01 de 2017, que le da vida a la Jurisdicción Especial de Paz.
se refieren a asuntos que ya definió la Corte Constitucional en la estatutaria o en la sentencia en la que declaró constitucional el acto legislativo que le dio vida a la JEP
Victims of sexual violence of the Farc ask that their cases be carried by the JEP.
They ensure that only in transitional justice can they know the truth of this crime and be repaired. Women's organizations support them with figures: impunity for these crimes in ordinary justice is 97%. It is she who, after a long process of defending the rights of women, just wants to know the truth. Why did they do that to her and other women? He is certain that the only opportunity he has to know is whether these cases, including those that occurred against minors, are sanctioned by the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP).
Exparas have been convicted of 471 cases of sexual violence
Five ex-heads of the Self-Defense Forces have already been condemned for cases of gender-based violence perpetrated by the men under their command. In the Justice and Peace law files on this group, at least 624 cases of multiple cruel and inhuman treatment were described, of which dozens of women were killed in La Dorada, Caldas.
Violence against women leaders is crueler than against leaders
while against them has the objective of eliminating them the one that is exerted against them seeks to punish them. Even homicides tend to be crueler when they kill women. Sisma Mujer found that in 66% of murders against them are aggravating factors such as sexual violence and torture. "60% of women leaders consider that they are not heard in the same way as men and 59% that do not have the same opportunities to lead as men"
Defending the land, another reason why they kill social leaders.
In Córdoba, Cauca and Magdalena Medio, although the conflict with the Farc ended, the dispute over the territory is a latent threat that has claimed many deaths of social leaders. What is happening in these regions?
"The main risks faced by the leaders of Córdoba, Magdalena Medio and Costa Pacifica del Cauca are related to the struggle for land. In Cordoba: the FARC demobilized, other illegal groups came to manage the department, which caused a new phase of displacement, exile of several social leaders and an upsurge of violence in the region, which, in 2018, left a balance of eight murdered defenders.
"Most leaders must fight secretly because there are no guarantees of protection. There are thousands of families who claim their land, but are threatened to the point that they prefer to stay quiet and go somewhere else," said Rogeres Higuita Ferrar, leader of the Group for the Defense of Land and Territory in Córdoba (GTTC). In turn, another leader said: "Here we can not say that the land is ours because it is a big problem since everyone wants to have it."
2018: forced displacement of 243 families, who to date have not returned because they say they do not have the guarantees to do so. The main problem that leaders face is related to their cultural identity because, according to them, when they are displaced from their lands they lose their autonomy. (Cauca)
What is the statutory law of the JEP?
Create a law that allows new JEP magistrates to make decisions autonomously
they are superior to any ordinary law, because they deal with fundamental issues that define other types of norms, but they are below the Constitution.
What would happen if the statutory law of the JEP is challenged? For some experts, it would be a clear message from President Duque about his disagreement with the peace process. For the international community, this gesture can be interpreted as another blow to this justice to prevent it from functioning.
Duque backing away from JEP. Victims, academics and retired military are asking: Duke, sign the JEP.
Uribe wants the elimination of the JEP; the JEP has already been approved by the Congress and the Constitutional Court, but it is only necessary that Duque sanctions it as Statutory Law; More than 227 victim organizations have written to Duque so that he does not object to the JEP; the law provides legal security to the processes.
For the victims, let's defend the JEP!
To say no to the JEP is to turn its back on 8,000 victims of kidnapping and, in general, to the 8.6 million who are waiting for truth and reparation.
Colombia, the inspiration for the world
Colombia is facing a unique opportunity to reverse the effects of more than 50 years of armed conflict and to show the world that, despite so many challenges, it is possible to achieve peace. As part of the official visits to the country of the special envoys for the Peace Process in Colombia of the European Union and Norway, we reaffirm the unrestricted support of the international community for the implementation of the Final Peace Agreement.
The ELN is willing to renegotiate the protocols: 'Pablo Beltrán'
The leader of the ex-negotiators of the guerrilla wants to agree with Duke his exit of Havana. "If he does not like the protocols there are, because we renegotiate them, what is done to him, he is the only one who can give us guarantees," said Beltrán. The guerrilla leader reiterated that the ELN is willing to seek new dialogues, and in this regard said they are "open to discuss all issues, but without prior requirements"
As Eln we continue with the will to dialogue": 'Pablito', commander of the Coce
Eln is behind gun plan to kill police.
In less than 27 hours four policemen in the country have been killed in what is described as a gun plan executed by the ELN.
The ELN is against the institutions that facilitate the violence and corruption of the government so they are attacking police; supposedly to protect ordinary people.
The ELN boss who is behind the attack on the pipeline in Catatumbo
Colombia: the peace process agonizes after the car bomb of Bogotá
The car bomb that exploded on Thursday in front of a Colombian police cadet school in Bogota, not only killed 21 people and left more than sixty injured, but also the difficult and complicated peace process to leave behind more than half a century of violence that has left some thousands of victims.
Some of the guarantors of the peace process between the Colombian government and the ELN have divided views on the protocols they must follow with the termination of the talks: while Chile and the UN Security Council endorse the decision of President Iván Duque To ask for the capture and extradition of the guerrilla leaders, Norway and Cuba say they will accept the agreement.
Car bomb attack by ELN
At the main entrance of the General Santander School, on the South Highway, in Bogotá, people keep coming to leave bouquets of flowers, messages of gratitude written on sheets of notebooks and to light candles in the place where the photos of the 21 cadets who lost their lives two weeks ago in the middle of a terrorist action by the ELN.
Ceasefire of 13 days by the ELN
ELN announces a Christmas truce and asks to resume the peace process. The ceasefire will last twelve days, starting next Sunday, December 23 .The guerrilla of the National Liberation Army (ELN) announced a twelve-day truce, which will start next Sunday, on the eve of December 24, and asked the Colombian government to resume the peace negotiations that began in Cuba.
The association 'More art more peace Barrancabermeja', composed of 26 people from civil society, victims of armed conflict and ex-combatants of groups outside the law, is an example of coexistence that corroborates that peace, reconciliation, and forgiveness do exist after so many injuries left by the war in the country.
The association 'More art plus peace' is made up of victims, civil society and ex-combatants.
Social Leaders in Danger.
The murder of social leaders and human rights defenders is one of the main concerns of the Government and the United Nations. This was expressed on Tuesday morning by President Ivan Duque and the head of the UN verification mission for the peace process in Colombia, Carlos Ruíz Massieu, after a meeting held at the Casa de Nariño.
The Minister of the Interior, Nancy Patricia Gutiérrez, said that after analyzing the places where most of the attacks and threats have been registered, they "coincide" with those areas where there is a greater number of illicit crops. She assured that the risks for social leaders stem from drug trafficking, the struggle for territorial control in some places and land conflicts.
The Colombian government says that 4,000 social leaders have individual protection.
The problem of search, threats, and killings of social leaders is one of the most worrying in Colombia today. In this context, the Government has the task of advancing policies that allow to curb these events and generate security for this vulnerable population that works in different regions of the country.
Francisco Barbosa urges not to do politics with the murder of social leaders
The high presidential advisor on human rights and international affairs spoke about this scourge in Colombia. The problem of search, threats, and killings of social leaders is one of the most worrying in Colombia today. In this context, the Government has the task of advancing policies that allow to curb these events and generate security for this vulnerable population that works in different regions of the country.
Democratic Center's Fake News Against JEP
This past week, members of the Democratic Center have been hashtagging #JEPCómplicesDeFARC (#JEPComplicesofFARC), #JEPMiente (#JEPLies) y #JepEsImpunidad (#JEPisImpunity)
- The most prominent voices of the government party promoted on Twitter the idea that the JEP had received the evidence that the United States would have against the former guerrilla leader, accused by the Southern District Court of New York of conspiring to send cocaine to that country.
- Until very early on Thursday the Minister of Justice, Gloria María Borrero, acknowledged, before the rumors of the press, that the rogatory letter in which the evidence was requested to the United States had gone astray
UN appreciates progress in the peace process in Colombia and expects to end successfully
The United Nations has been following Colombia's Peace process closely and will continue to monitor the Truth Commission.
More on the UN and the Colombia Truth and the Peace process:
Carlos Ruiz Massieu, New chief of verification of the UN to the peace process
The Memory Center needs to be Respected: A Call to Social Organizations:
Vicente Torrijos resigned from the management of the National Center of Historical Memory-the article critical of Duque's government by those who, in the postulate for the Center's management, social organizations have asked Duque to create a committee of choice for the position Mario Javier Pacheco was the first candidate of the presidency for the position-who openly opposed the work of the Center Work of the center has been to bring to light the following figures: 82,998 forced disappearances that have been traced through the work of the Center (which exceeds 9 thousand in Chile and 30 thousand in Argentina)
2013 Memory Center published the report "Enough is enough!", One of the most robust investigations on the conflict so far ... the death toll in the context of the war was 262,197 and 39,058 registered kidnappings In the center, there are pending reports on paramilitarism in Colombia, which in my opinion makes it important to know that Duke does not want this report to come to light.
More on the Memory Center:
What is the National Center of Historical Memory?
Vicente Torrijos resigns to be the Director Centro Memoria Memoria Colombia
'The Memory Center was infiltrated by the guerrillas', says his possible new director
Despite the false degree, Vicente Torrijos was appointed the director of the Memory Center:
This article criticizes the postulation of Vicente, saying that he has won several contracts saying that he is a doctor in international relations when he is not (he did not finish his doctorate-univ.) Del Rosario dismissed him for this, but the Duque government does not like him matter) He is also criticized for his closeness to the military sectors "The voices of the victims will lose weight if they do not fit their way of seeing the conflict. It would be, perhaps, a memory center for the military, not for the country "
False degree: this is not the most serious problem of the new director of the Memory Center
What are the rights of women two years after the signing of peace?
The National Summit of Women and Peace-launched a report on implementation with a gender approach, a report entitled: Balance to the implementation of the final peace agreement on women's rights.
More on Gender and the peace process:
"Without the work of our female leaders, it is impossible to understand peace in Colombia"