The President of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), Patricia Linares, presented the first-year results of the work of the JEP to six members of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Kingston, Jamaica on the 9 May. The President presented challenges the JEP is facing in the implementation process, but also reaffirmed their commitment to advancing the technical cooperation agreement signed with the GOC in 2018.¹

Another former FARC-EP member, Giovanny Murillas, was killed on 12 May in Guaviare.² The FARC political party (FARC) called on the international community and Colombians to demand that the GOC comply with the Peace Accord and protect former combatants.³  In a tweet, FARC Senator Sandra Ramirez pointed to recent threats that social organizations in Arauca have received from the Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia (AGC), who claimed that their members are disguised former FARC-EP guerilla.  According to the annual report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), 85 former FARC combatants have been assassinated since 26 November 2017. 

Two women from Valle del Cauca, members of the Association of Agricultural Producers of Algeria project, made up mainly of victims and funded by the EU Trust Fund for Colombia (EUTF) in Colombia, presented their product, the plantain, in the Macfrut Fair in Italy, one of the most important agricultural fairs in Europe. This project is part of the 125 million euros allocated for 24 projects in 73 municipalities of Colombia by the EUTF.⁴

All of the illegal armed groups in Colombia have increased their ranks since the Peace Accord was signed, taking advantage of the lack of presence of State institutions and the power vacuums created following disarmament of the guerilla. However, the figures differ: according to the National Security and Defense Plan of the GOC, FARC-EP dissidents number 3,000 members including their militias; the ELN has increased to 4,000, a figure similar to that reported by Insight Crime; the Clan de Golfo to 1,600; among other groups, such as the Caparrapos and the Pelusos. According to the International Crisis Group, the GOC exaggerates the numbers as a strategy to endorse its defense policy, ensuring future support for the Armed Forces, and undermining negotiation as a possible solution. With the possible exit of Iván Marquez and alias “El Paisa” from the Peace Accord,  some question whether thousands of former guerillas might follow suit.⁵

In a letter signed by 361 congresspersons, former ministers, former peace negotiators, and human rights defenders, the Defend the Peace Movement asked the UN for protection measures for the magistrates of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court of Justice. The request followed a number of incidents in which magistrates were victims of wiretapping, death threats and revocation of US visas.⁶

According to Center for Popular Education and Research, of the 1418 social leaders who were victims of acts of aggressions in 2018, 800 cases remain in impunity.  The aggressions included 648 murders, 48 attacks, 1,151 threatened, 304 wounded, 66 tortured, 3 victims of sexual violence and 22 disappeared.⁷  Afro-Colombian communities, as well as leaders of the local Community Action Committees, who are often at the forefront of substitution of illicit crops, land restitution and environmental protection, top the list of victims. The alarming rate of one assassination every three days is predicted to worsen with the upcoming local elections. While communities have requested the GOC to negotiate with the perpetrators (70% of whom are unidentified actors) and to provide integrated protection measures, those launched by the GOC, such as the Timely Action Plan, have received strong criticism for duplicating previous dysfunctional structures.⁸