The rise in violence in Colombia continues despite efforts to maintain ceasefire agreements signed in 2016 with various armed groups.
The Second Marquetalia rebel group announced a unilateral ceasefire and promised to release all the kidnapped people, after the first round of negotiations with the Government of Colombia, in Caracas.
The authorities and the dissident group issued a joint statement on Saturday, which did not reveal the effective date of the ceasefire, but specified that “it will begin as soon as the presidential decree on offensive military operations comes into force.”
The statement also clarifies that “the unilateral ceasefire of the Second Marquetalia-EB does not imply the limitation of the constitutional and legal powers of the security forces.”
The rebel group also promised “not to remain armed or uniformed” in “urban centers” and on “land and river routes,” says the document, signed by Government negotiators, Armando Novoa, and Marquetalia’s Second, Walter Mendoza.
A meeting in Tumaco, Nariño, in western Colombia, will take place between both parties “no later than July 20” to present the de-escalation agreement, as well as to define “the calendar for the identification of social and economic projects.” . .
The two sides also agreed to create a joint “technical subcommittee” to establish a “geographical census of municipalities, cantons and villages” where the group is present.
Colombia began peace negotiations with Segunda Marquetalia on June 24, in an attempt by the government of leftist President Gustavo Petri to pacify rural areas of the country where violence has been increasing.
The surge in violence has come despite efforts to uphold ceasefire agreements signed in 2016 with several armed groups.
Negotiations with the Second Marquetalia are controversial because the group is led by elements of the former FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), which signed the peace agreement but have returned to using weapons because some of its members face investigations for drug trafficking.
The Segunda Marquetalia group is led by Luciano Marín, a former FARC commander who was the group’s chief negotiator in peace talks that led to the disarmament of more than 13,000 rebel fighters.
The rebels escaped prison sentences and received 10 seats in Colombia’s Congress as part of the 2016 peace deal, including a Senate seat that was awarded to Marín, better known by his nom de guerre, Iván Márquez.
But Marín abandoned the peace agreement in 2018, after one of his closest comrades, Seuxis Paucias, was arrested by Colombian police for alleged conspiracy to export cocaine to the United States.
Last year, Marín began holding private conversations with officials from Petri’s administration at secret locations in Venezuela.
Source: Observadora
