Lea y descargue Peace Mail 14 - 20 May

 The first ever political debate convened by the FARC party took place in the Senate's First Commission on 27 May to examine the delays, progress, and difficulties of the Peace Accord, with special emphasis on the stigmatization and assassination of social leaders and former FARC-EP combatants. While the Minister of Interior, Nancy Patricia Gutiérrez, listed the results and processes the GOC has been working on to protect social leaders, all other parties present attacked the inefficiency of the GOC in implementing the measures of the Accord. Special mentions were related to the failure to dismantle illegal armed organizations, the lack of implementation of community protection measures, and the lack of assignation of personal and financial resources meant to provide security (for example, the National Commission for Security Guarantees).¹

In commemoration of the 55th anniversary of the extinct FARC-EP, former members "Iván Márquez", "Édinson Romaña", "Walter Mendoza", and Óscar Montero alias "el Paisa" have shared a letter attacking ex-prosecutor Néstor Humberto Martínez and questioning the GOC for its slow progress in implementing the Peace Accord. Rodrigo Londoño alias "Timochencko" responded to the letter, affirming the commitment of former combatants and party members to the Peace Accord despite the complexity of its implementation. The exchange highlighted the distance between the current head of the FARC party and former guerrilla leader “Ivan Marquez”, who failed to appear at the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP).²

Following last week’s New York Times report, which claimed that commanders of the Armed Forces of Colombia had ordered their troops to double the number of criminals and guerrillas killed or captured, the Armed Forces have withdrawn the controversial reporting mechanism in which officers had to detail the number of disruptions caused by their units in 2018 and make planned projections for 2019. A special commission has also been established to investigate the alleged facts. The Public Prosecutor's Office will review the actions of the commander, General Nicacio Martínez, and other military personnel, to determine whether they did indeed make this order.³

The Secretariat of the Senate has sent the documentation requested by the Constitutional Court (CC) in order to make a decision regarding the presidential objections to the Statutory Law of the JEP. The document includes the agenda of the plenary meetings, as well as the excuses of five senators who claimed to be absent from the discussion for medical and travel reasons. The Secretariat has also shared impediments of 14 senators, which were accepted.⁴

Social leader and member of the Women's Commission of the Green Alliance political party, Concepción Corredor, was murdered by two members of the ELN on 24 May in Casanare. Corredor was president of the Community Action Board of La Pradera.⁵ In related news, more than 260 Colombian and foreign academics from 13 countries have called on President Duque to take action to stop the "systematic bloodshed" of social leaders that is occurring nationwide.⁶