One week after the visit of the United Nations Security Council to Colombia, the Representative of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia, Carlos Ruíz Massieu, presented the agency’s quarterly report to the General Assembly in New York.  Among the key recommendations made was the urgency to dismantle criminal structures that are working against the construction of peace and driving insecurity.¹

The Hass avocado productive project in Los Monos Territorial Training and Reincorporation Space in Caldono engages more former combatants than any other with a total of 240 members.  With an investment value of 2.3 billion Colombian pesos (1.9 billion from the GOC and $4 million from the international community), 25,000 trees on 70 hectares of land have been planted in the Tumburao indigenous reservation in Silvia, Cauca.  Thirty-four former members of the FARC-EP and members of the community were certified in this practice thanks to the Productive Environments Training implemented by the Agency for Reincorporation and Normalization (ARN) with technical support from the National Learning Service (SENA) in Popayán. The project relies on trout, pig and cattle waste used as organic fertilizer in the cultivation of avocado.²

A former combatant of the FARC-EP has reported that she was kidnapped on 14 July in Corinto, Cauca, and subsequently sexually abused and tortured by two unidentified individuals who accused her of being an informant of the Armed Forces.  The woman, who was able to flee after four days, remains in the hospital under the protection of the police.³

The Constitutional Court has reinterpreted its 2017 ruling, which imposed six conditions to resume aerial spraying of the chemical glyphosate to eradicate the production of coca plants. Among the most controversial conditions were conclusive scientific studies on the absolute absence of harm. President Duque reopened the issue early this year, requesting public hearings for arguments for and against its use. In its decision, the magistrates did not demand accounts of the progress made in the requirements for lifting the ban, but instead recognized the impossibility of designing a zero-risk counter-narcotics policy, citing the premise that evidence of the damage is relative, not absolute. The use of glyphosate has been forbidden in Colombia since 2015, after it was determined that the chemical may be harmful to humans and the environment.⁴

The European Investment Bank has chosen Bogotá as the headquarters for its regional representation and has committed to invest in projects that support sustainable economic growth in the region, including environmental conservation and peace. The Bank President and Vice-President will visited the country on 22 July.⁵

Two incidents of ELN aggressions surfaced in the news this week.  A businessman was kidnapped in Chocó, raising the total number of hostages in their possession to 13.  The incident comes just days after President Duque enacted an amendment to a constitutional article prohibiting the crimes of kidnapping and drug trafficking from qualifying for amnesty in future peace processes in Colombia.⁶  Also this week, the ELN burned two trucks on the route between Medellín and Caucasia, closing a key route to the coast overnight.⁷  In related news, following his trip to the U.S. last week, Colombian Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo shared the U.S. concern for ties between the government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and the ELN.⁸