The Presidential High Counsellor for Stabilization and Consolidation, Emilo Archila, exposed the breakthroughs and difficulties of the reincorporation process of ex-combatants at the IACHR. Archila, in a public hearing of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, (IACHR) explained how the public policy of Peace with Legality outlines long-term planning, is articulated with the National Development Plan and marks the path for the implementation of the Peace Accord. On regards of the specific issue of reincorporation, Counsellor Archila explained how the planning process was elaborated to fulfill the president's mandate to support the ex-combatants who remain under the rule of law: "We made a robust planning, we have an absolutely detailed census of each of the ex-combatants, we know what their needs are and how to support them until they achieve their effective reincorporation into society”.¹

Construction of the National Plan to Search for the Disappeared in Colombia has begun. For the first time, social organizations and families of victims of forced disappearance from all over the country will build with the Missing Persons Search Unit (UBPD), a National Plan to define strategies to search for the nearly 120,000 disappeared as a result of the armed conflict. One of the objectives of the plan is to collect all information from different territories, to establish a more precise number of cases of forced disappearance and, at the same time, to define the strategies to search for these persons depending on the territory or the way in which they were disappeared. During October, eight meetings will be held with indigenous and Afro-descendant organizations, the LGBTI population and women, associations of relatives of forced disappearance, kidnap victims and members of the Public Force who have disappeared, as well as Colombians in exile and NGOs.²

The dreams of 28 ex-combatants in Toro (Valle del Cauca), who are part of the reintegration process, are tied to the productive projects with Aloe Vera products. About 15 businessmen attended this week a fair in Toro, where training is carried out under the Productive Environments Model (MEP), led by the Agency for Reincorporation and Normalization (ARN), with the support of USAID and IOM. The activity with the businessmen entailed a trade fair, where ex-combatants exhibited their products and demonstrated their capabilities in the cultivation of Aloe, which is characterized by its nutritional and healing power. The ex-combatants talked about the benefits of Aloe Vera and how innovative products such as grape jams, milk caramel, yogurt and even cleaning products such as shampoo, gel and soap are made.³

On Sunday night, two people were killed in the village of La Caucana, in the municipality of Tarazá (Antioquia), in an armed attack in which five more people were injured. According to testimonies, "the victims were chatting in a commercial premise when several armed men arrived at the site and opened fire on those present, which generated panic among the people who began to run in the middle of the detonations". The authorities still do not know which armed group committed the crime, the Caparros and Clan del Golfo are present there, however the ELN and the FARC dissidents are also present. For a long time, La Caucana has been a forbidden territory even for the public force, because the illegal actors have kept at bay any military control to protect their illicit crops.⁴

The authorities reveal new and overwhelming evidence of the ELN´s presence in Venezuela. At a press conference on Monday morning, Attorney General Fabio Espitia said the agency has several lines of investigation into the ELN's presence in Venezuela, all based on information extracted from devices that had due process of custody and interviews with ex-combatants. According to Espitia, there is evidence that Venezuela has worked on "the strengthening of the military, logistical and financial" of the elenos, "strengthening from drug trafficking networks to illegal mining and smuggling. In addition, the prosecutor assured that there is evidence about the exact places where the guerrillas would have camps”.⁵