Colombia: News & Updates

On behalf of IRTF’s Rapid Response Network (RRN) members, we wrote six letters this month to heads of state and other high-level officials in Colombia, Guatemala, and Honduras, urging their swift action in response to human rights abuses occurring in their countries.  We join with civil society groups in Latin America to: (1) protect people living under threat, (2) demand investigations into human rights crimes, (3) bring human rights criminals to justice.

IRTF’s Rapid Response Network (RRN) volunteers write six letters in response to urgent human rights cases each month. We send copies of these letters to US ambassadors, embassy human rights officers, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, regional representatives of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and desk officers at the US State Department. To read the letters, see https://www.irtfcleveland.org/content/rrn , or ask us to mail you hard copies.

Since the new ceasefire in Colombia, the government has announced an immense reduction in violence and especially killings. After nearly six decades of armed conflict, which has cost at least 450,000 lives and displaced millions of Colombians, the new president Gustavo Petro has negotiated a ceasefire with four armed groups which came into effect on December 31, 2022. The Sierra Nevada paramilitaries, Clan de Golfo gang, and two FARC dissident groups have agreed to a halt on fighting. Initially Petro declared an additional ceasefire with the militant ELN group, but this was denied by ELN. Currently the Colombian government is still holding peace talks with the group but is also carrying out attacks on ELN strongholds and leaders.

So far Petro's promise to either negotiate peace or surrender agreements with armed groups seems to be acted on. Although ceasefires are far from actual peace deals, the effects are already visible. Homicides in the areas included in the agreements have decreased by up to 68%. They decreased 

• 68% in Chocó, a pacific province 
• 66% in Arauca, at the border to Venezuela
• 52% in Córdoba   
• 37% in Magdalena

Furthermore, the government has announced a 50% reduction in mass killings in the first month of the ceasefire. 

For years Colombia has seen a bloody civil war between left-wing guerillas on one hand, and the Colombian state on the other hand. The conflict has cost thousands of lives, and even more displacements and destruction. 

In 1985, after a ceasefire and lengthy negotiations between the FARC guerillas and the Colombian government, the door was opened for a non militant, legal left-wing party, the Patriotic Union (UP). But since its creation the UP was in the cross hairs of opposing right wing actors. To counter the rise of the left, an alliance between politicians, paramilitaries, businessmen and public forces was created and with it a wave of violence and oppression towards the UP rolled over the country. Between 1984, the starting year of the negotiations, until today, at least 6,000 UP members have been victims of systematic violence. This includes:

• 3,170 executions 
• 1,596 forced replacements
• 521 forced disappearances
• 285 attacks or attempted homicides 

These are only the official numbers; it is likely that the actual number of victims is much higher. Over the years, a culture of impunity for violence against UP members and other left-wing activists was established. This led to a justice system in which the bulk of violence against those individuals stays uninvestigated.  Now, after 39 years of oppression, violence and a culture of impunity,  the Inter-American Court has condemned Colombia for the extermination of the UP party. In its verdict the court concluded that Colombia violates the political rights of the UP party and criticizes the fact that most cases of violence against UP and leftists are never or very ineffectively investigated.

Finally, the court ordered that the Colombian state has to:

• pay reparations to victims
• initiate or continue investigations to determine criminal responsibilities, "within a responsible time"  
• search for victims of forced disappearances, as well as establish a commission to verify the identities and relationships of the victims
• carry out a public act of recognition of responsibility
• establish a national day of remembrance
• build a monument in honor of the victims

Whether all these demands will be fulfilled is still unclear. In a statement, President Gustavo Petro has claimed that the government of Colombia will assure justice "against impunity."

Update, Gustavo Pero announced a payment of reperations. More on that and the crimes against UP members here: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/01/colombia-reparations-syste... 

On behalf of IRTF’s Rapid Response Network (RRN) members, we wrote six letters this month to heads of state and other high-level officials in Colombia, El Salvador, and Honduras, urging their swift action in response to human rights abuses occurring in their countries.  We join with civil society groups in Latin America to: (1) protect people living under threat, (2) demand investigations into human rights crimes, (3) bring human rights criminals to justice.

IRTF’s Rapid Response Network (RRN) volunteers write six letters in response to urgent human rights cases each month. We send copies of these letters to US ambassadors, embassy human rights officers, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, regional representatives of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and desk officers at the US State Department. To read the letters, see https://www.irtfcleveland.org/content/rrn , or ask us to mail you hard copies.

For years Colombian social leaders and human rights activists have been living in fear. Every year more than a hundred lose their lives due to violent attacks and assassinations. But 2022 marks a sickening new record in this bloodshed with 225 recorded killings of these important members of society. Over the cause of the year illegal armed groups have been intensifying the violence, especially in major drug trafficking areas. In a statement, the government's ombudsman Carlos Camargo said, "It's a serious impact on the basis of democracy, because these are leaders who take up the concerns of the people, who are spokespersons and who work for a country where human rights are respected."

Despite the newly elected President Gustavo Petro's pushes for peace, the violence is still ongoing. Striving for peace, Petro has started talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN), plans on implementing a peace agreement with remaining dissident FARC fighters and bring gang violence to a halt and members to justice, by offering a reduced sentence to those who surrender.

At the World Economy Forum in Davos, the Colombian government has unexpectedly announced its break with fossil fuels. The minister of mines, Irene Vélez, has stated that the Colombian state will put a halt on any further exploration of oil and gas. The transition from fossil fuels to more green energy generation was a central part of president Gustavo Petro's election campaign. Asked about this decision, Vélez has declared that it "has been very controversial" but that "This decision is absolutely urgent and needs immediate action." But the veracity of this plan is questionable when looking at the fractured congress, bleak economic outlook, and a history of u-turns in policies. 

Criticism of the plan comes from a number of individuals and institutions. Colombia's finance minister always ensured to the international community that the country will remain open for new oil and gas projects. He has stated that the country, which relies on fossil fuels for half of its export revenue, needs the profit generated by the fossil industry. Economic analysts note that this decision will not affect the international demand and will only hurt the country in the long run. Criticism also comes from environmental experts who see the real trouble in cattle-ranching and unsustainable agriculture, the main cause of deforestation. Furthermore, they criticize that the key issues are not addressed and the new project will have no significant impact on the global climate.

President Petro has backed the plan, stating that alternative economies like tourism and green energy will make up for the loss in fossil fuel revenue.