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United States planned removal The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) could be removed from its list of “foreign terrorist organizations” before November, an unnamed U.S. official told Reuters news agency.
U.S. news outlets reported the move for the first time on Tuesday, the eve of its five-year anniversary. a landmark peace agreement it put an end to Marxist rebellions and decades of violence between the Colombian government.
The FARC’s removal from Washington’s list of “foreign terrorists” could take place in late November or early December, U.S. officials told Reuters.
The U.S. State Department on Tuesday informed Congress that it planned to remove it from the FARC list, and on Wednesday formally informed the Colombian government.
The FARC fought for five decades during the devastating political violence in Colombia, including bombings, assassinations, kidnappings and attacks on the distribution of wealth to the poor in Colombia.
The team signed peace agreement With Bogota in 2016, and in 2018, he participated in the final decommissioning of available weapons overseen by the United Nations. He is currently nominated as a political party, guaranteed part of the seats in the Colombian parliament.
Removing the group from the U.S. terror list would now allow U.S. officials to work with FARC members who are now entering private or political life, the U.S. official said.
The official also said that the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden intends to keep a tough group of former FARC rebels and former rebels who use a variant of the FARC name on the list of “terrorist” organizations.
“It allows us to focus on the full tools of the U.S. government and law enforcement to also track down people who have not signed the agreement and remain active in terrorist activities,” the official added.
Despite the 2016 agreement, the violence continues The peace deal was rejected by FARC dissidents in several parts of Colombia that still have weapons, and in places where other armed groups and drug traffickers operate.
We praise the people of Colombia on the fifth anniversary of the Peace Agreement. Colombia has made significant progress and will continue to help implement the Agreement.
– Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) November 24, 2021
This week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres – on a visit to the nation of South America on the occasion of the anniversary of the peace agreement – deplore He called for “enemies of peace” and “ensuring the security of former fighters, social leaders and human rights defenders”.
“We need to redouble our efforts to ensure sustainability [reintegration] projects, with technical and financial support, land and housing, ”Guterres said Tuesday.
Former fighters, victims’ representatives, the Colombian government and UN leaders met on Wednesday at the headquarters of the Special Peace Jurisdiction (JEP), a court set up to try to prosecute the most serious crimes in the conflict that killed and injured about nine million people. , kidnapped or displaced.
“We insist on apologizing to the victims of our actions during the conflict” Rodrigo London, said the former FARC commander Timochenko, also known by his former war name, at a ceremony in Bogota.
“Their understanding of their pain grows every day in us and fills us with sorrow and shame,” he said.
Former FARC members on the U.S. “terrorism” list prevented U.S. government agencies from collaborating with development projects that included ex-combatants, such as mine clearance plans or efforts to replace illegal crops like the coca leaf, Adam Isacson said of the Washington office. Latin America, defense team.
Conflict resolution teams welcomed the removal of the list.
“It is very gratifying to see that this step has been taken, which will undoubtedly facilitate the implementation of the Colombian peace agreement,” said Renata Segura, Latin America and the Caribbean’s deputy director of the International Crisis Group, a nonprofit research group. .
He is living in Colombia the most violent time Since 2016, fighting between armed groups competing to control drug fields, illegal gold mines and smuggled road profits has continued.
According to the Indepaz peace research institute, there are 90 armed groups in the country with about 10,000 members. More than 5,000 FARC dissidents, some 2,500 members, rejected the peace Army of National Liberation (ELN) – the last active guerrilla group in the country, and another 2,500 right-wing paramilitary fighters.
Last month, the UN warned that a deteriorating security situation posed a “significant challenge” to the country’s 2016 peace agreements.
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