FARC dissidents are formally left out of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP). The Appeals Chamber of the JEP decided to expel "Jesús Santrich", "Iván Márquez", "el Paisa" and all former FARC members who published the video announcing their rearmament. The court room considered that, with their return to arms, the persistent offenders had committed the most serious offense stipulated by that jurisdiction. With the decision, the proceedings against them will be within the jurisdiction of the ordinary courts. As part of this decision, the various courts and the Attorney General's Office were officiated to reverse the effects of the cancellations of the arrest warrants that at the time were subscribed as part of the benefits granted to them during the peace process.¹

Workshops to prevent stigmatization of former FARC-EP members are underway. Aware of the challenges of the reintegration process in terms of overcoming stigmatization and strengthening coexistence, the Colombian Government is making progress in the design and implementation of early prevention actions to ensure the comprehensive and sustainable reintegration of former FARC-EP members. As part of the actions being taken to address phenomena such as stigmatization, the 'Building Peace, Territory and Life' workshops will be held during the month of September in different departments of the country. These workshops will be led by the Agency for Reincorporation and Normalization (ARN), the UN Verification Mission in Colombia, the FARC component of the National Reincorporation Council (CNR), among other institutions and organizations.²

The Unit for the Search of Missing Persons (UBPD) is advancing on the identification of deceased persons in Bogotá, Medellín and Barranquilla. As such, the UBPD, in alliance with the Institute of Legal Medicine and the Public Prosecutor's Office have developed a pilot for the recognition of deceased persons who are in State institutions in these cities and have not been identified or handed over to their families. This pilot will begin with a diagnosis of the stages of identification to locate where the gaps or errors in the process are. It will also help to consolidate the information available in physical and digital necropsy records, archives, books and databases of Forensic Medicine and the Attorney General's Office. Based on this work, it will be possible that, together with the UBPD, the entities will develop action plans to achieve the identification of these people and deliver them to their families.³

Political violence worsens in the final stretch of local elections. Last Sunday Bernardo Betancourt, conservative candidate for mayor of Tibú, Norte de Santander, was assassinated.⁴ According to the Electoral Observation Mission (MOE), seven candidates have already been killed since 27 July. With that, a month and a half from the polls, there are already more candidates killed than the five in 2015. In addition, violence is very local, according to the MOE, of the 40 candidates who have been victims of some kind of attack in these elections, 38 are candidates for mayor and councils and only one for governorship and another for assembly.⁵ The month of September has had a critical start with a growing number of victims, in just the first days of the month have been recorded thirteen, of which are already two, product of attacks and three as a result of targeted killings.⁶

Rafael Guarín, National Security Advisor to the Presidency of the Republic, explained the government's plan to reach the most complex areas due to the presence of illegal groups, with high homicide rates, concentration of coca crops and illegal mining. He affirms that the problems in these regions are not solved only by the police and the army: "the State is required to reach the territories with social services, while at the same time building institutional legitimacy and legality […] In the future, this is the commitment to continue the process of building the nation and the State”. The Plan is going to start in the Pacific region of Nariño, Bajo Cauca in Antioquia, southern Córdoba, the Catatumbo, Arauca, Chiribiquete and the surrounding natural parks.⁷