- In the Southwestern Region of Nariño, Shoot-Out Between Colombia Rebels Kills 13, Government Says
BOGOTA (Reuters) - Thirteen people, including civilians, were killed during a confrontation between Colombia’s ELN rebels and dissidents from the now-demobilized FARC guerrilla group in a remote area known for drug trafficking, the country’s ombudsman said on Tuesday.
The incident took place on Nov. 27 in the southwestern Narino region, a place where crime gangs and rebel groups are known to grow, process and smuggle coca, the base ingredient in cocaine. Reuters
- FARC Are Still Armed to the Teeth: Colombians Should Be Skeptical of their Symbolic Disarmament (E)
According to a recent report, there had been five weapons for every guerrilla members. That means an estimated 34,500 weapons — a figure that does not coincide with the 7,132 figure reported by the UN. This information suggests that efforts by public officials have led to the reduction of violence on a national level, but that it remains unclear what the current magnitude of the FARC’s arsenal actually is. The evidence suggests that the criminal organization exchanges weapons for cocaine and possesses the resources to acquire other war materials. They could be masking a political front while simultaneously creating alliances with other terrorist organizations that serve their strategic objectives. PanAm Post
- Demobilized FARC Fighters Prepare to Enter Peacetime Economy; Some 7,000 with Limited Schooling & Skills
But like longtime inmates who view their prison walls as protection from an unsparing outside world, some of the rebels express trepidation about breaking free. For them the FARC has been a surrogate family, providing food, clothing, shelter, protection, companionship, and a sense of purpose. Individual enterprise and ambition—keys to success in the capitalist world—were frowned upon in the FARC. Asked about their postwar plans, several teenage rebels in Guaviare say they will do whatever their comandantes order. Bloomberg
- FARC-EP Affirms It Will Continue Defending Colombian Peace Process (E)
Bogotá, March 29 (Prensa Latina) FARC-EP leader Timoleón Jiménez said today that Colombian guerrillas will continue defending the peace process despite any setbacks and assured that together with the Government it will push for the implementation of the November pact. Prensa Latina
- FARC’s Final March as An Army: Thousands of Fighters Start Moving to Demobilization Camps (S)
"Through the mountains, rivers and roads of 33 routes previously defined with the Government, at least 5,500 guerrillas march to the 26 points across the country where they will disarm. Among them, as a novelty of peace, there are pregnant women and nursing mothers. It is a gigantic march supported about 600 officials and protected by a state security cordon. Interview with Carlos Córdoba, director of the demobilization zones and coordinator of this migration. El Tiempo
- In the Best ‘Sicario’ Tradition: Gang Offering $1 Million Bounty for Colombia’s FARC Rebel Leaders
A criminal gang is offering bounties of $1 million to assassins who kill leaders from Colombia's Marxist FARC rebel group, a lawyer for the guerrillas said on Tuesday, as the group prepares to take seats in Congress as part of a peace deal. "These offers come from people who have the economic means to offer not just $1 million, but $9 million, because there are nine secretariat members," [lawyer Enrique] Santiago said, adding that seven ex-FARC members have been slain since April 1. He did not name the criminal group offering the bounties. Reuters
- A Historic Event And An Example to the World: United Nations Mission Receives Balance of Individual FARC-EP Weapons (S)
Bogota, 26 June 2017. In compliance with with the Road Map that was approved on 29 May, on 20 June the third phase of the laying down of individual weapons of the FARC-EP combatants was initiated. The UN Mission in Colombia has been storing the arms in its weapons containers in the 26 Local Zones and Points. As of today, the Mission has stored the totality of individual arms of the FARC-EP that were registered: 7132 arms, with the exception of those that, in accordance with the Road Map, will be used to provide security in the 26 FARC-EP camps until 1 August 2017. At that time, the Mission will have stored all of the existing weapons in the camps and will have extracted the containers from the Transitional Local Zones and Points, which will then transition into Regional Spaces for Training and Reincorporation.To date, the Mission has verified 77 arms caches from which weapons have been extracted and munitions, explosives and unstable armaments destroyed. UN Nations Mission - Moving Forward: Process of Registering and Issuing IDs for Thousands of Demobilized FARC Fighters (S)
The National Registrar, Juan Carlos Galindo, confirmed in a conversation with RCN Radio that data of 6916 members of FARC were gathered during the first phase of the identification process of guerrillas and militias carried out by the public agency in every one of the transitional demobilization zones. RCN Radio
- Army Threats to Arrest FARC Rebels Puts Peace at Risk (E)
"COLOMBIA’S peace process was under threat once again yesterday after the army chief of staff threatened to arrest communist rebels. General Alberto Mejia said: “Any FARC member found outside the concentration zones will be arrested and charged by the attorney general. If they don’t have any criminal record, they will be handed to the monitoring mechanism on the orders of the army’s High Command.” Morning Star
- François Hollande and Juan Manuel Santos Visit FARC Demobilization Camp in Cauca (S)
President Juan Manuel Santos led his French counterpart François Hollande to the FARC demobilization camp Los Monos, in the municipality of Caldono, department of Cauca. Hollande and Santos are to meet with Jean Arnaud, who heads the UN Nations Observation Mission in Colombia, and Pablo Catatumbo, from FARC Secretariat. El Tiempo