Peace Mail / November 6-12, 2018
Weekly Update on the implementation of the Peace Accord. The final peace accord contains a three-pronged approach to ensuring fulfillment of commitments included in the text: the Commission for Monitoring, Promotion, and Verification of the Implementation of the Peace Accord (CSIVI), the National Reincorporation Council (CNR) and the GOC-FARC-UN tripartite Monitoring and Verification Mechanism (MM&V).
Download Peace Mail / November 6-12, 2018
President Duque confirmed on 9 November that if Hernán Darío Velásquez (alias “El Paisa”) does not present himself before the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), the suspension of the arrest warrant against him will be lifted. He made similar comments with regards FARC second-in-command Iván Márquez, who has communicated with the JEP through his lawyers, and in a letter sent on 28 October, in which he confirmed his continued commitment to the peace process. The missive was also signed by El Paisa, Romaña, and other FARC leaders.1
The JEP’s Truth Recognition Court continued hearing evidence from kidnapping victims involved in Case 001 this week. During these initial hearings, which began on 22 October, 24 victims and their families shared their experiences and expectations with regards reparations. The JEP is responsible for sentencing those responsible, but also aims to contribute to truth, justice, reparation, and non-repetition.2
Seven further productive projects worth approximately US$1.6 million and benefitting 463 former combatants were approved by the National Reincorporation Council (CNR) this week. Only two projects have received payments thus far, and 15 are currently being processed. Former combatants receive a monthly stipend of ¾ a minimum salary, but when this ends in August 2019, the success of these productive projects will be of vital importance to their economic reincorporation.3
More than 1,000 people have been displaced in Hacarí, Catatumbo, due to confrontations between the ELN and the EPL since 1 November. The war between the former allies is focused on territory previously controlled by the now-demobilized FARC, and has had severe implications for the civilian population since it began on 14 March this year. The 5,000 additional public troops promised by President Duque arrived in the region on 4 November, but concerns about the care offered displaced persons persist.4
The ELN attacked one of the largest petroleum pipelines in the country, the Caño Limón-Coveñas pipeline in Norte de Santander, on 12 November, prompting the state oil company, Ecopetrol, to implement contingency measures to contain the resulting spill. The attack brings the total against this pipeline to 78 this year, exceeding the 62 attacks perpetrated over 2017, which resulted in the spilling of 20,000 barrels of crude oil.5
INTERPOL issued further Red Notices against two of the five members of the ELN’s Central Command (COCE) on 6 November. The guerrilla group’s chief negotiator, Israel Ramírez Pineda (alias “Pablo Beltrán”), is now the only COCE leader without a Red Notice against him.6 President Duque called for the objects of Red Notices to be handed over to the authorities, and confirmed that if the guerrilla group does not cease its kidnappings and illegal activities, military operations against them will continue.7 Although the ELN released a hostage taken in Arauca on 28 March, claiming he had been kidnapped for suspected corruption in the management of public services,8 the two sides remain in a deadlock over the terms for the resumption of peace negotiations.9