With the murder on Tuesday of Juan Vicente Carvajal Isidro, known as Misael, the number of FARC former guerrillas killed since de signing of the Final Peace Agreement on 24 November 2016, has reached 22.

The People’s Alternative Revolutionary Force Party (FARC) has condemned the murder and had once again called on the international community to ensure the Peace Agreement is implemented on the side of the Colombian Government.

Indeed the FARC has complied with whatever was required to them, while the Government has been deliberately slowing down the process of implementation, thus giving way to a wave of violence (due to the fact that those responsible of murder know they can more or less get away with their crimes) which is really jeopardising the whole Peace.

With little more than two week left before the Presidential elections, violence in Colombia seems to have got out of hands.

Appeal to international community

The FARC on its part has called for an intervention of the “notable people”, a figure established by the Peace Agreement. Former President of Uruguay Pepe Mujica and former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzales met the FARC and the Colombian government to see what the international community could do in order to prevent a turning for worse of the peace process.

The FARC has called on the “notables” to intervene on the situation of FARC former commander Jesus Santrich, who have been on hunger strike since the day of his arrest, result of a set up aimed to jail the whole leadership of the new party.

Santrich has been transferred to the hospital because of his health condition and both Mujica and Gonzalez have said they would talk to President Juan Manuel Santos to see that Santrich’s condition is revised.

President Santos has reassured the FARC delegation that its 10 deputies will be granted all safety conditions to participate to the Parliament sessions, although so far there is little confidence that safety will indeed guaranteed and the murder of Carvajal, on Tuesday, only add to these worries.

At the same time, the Presidential elections are nearing and it is not at all clear that a progressive or at least “peace-friendly” president will indeed replace Santos. Opinion polls still show the right and warmonger faction continues to appeal to voters. It has to be said that in Colombia participation to the election is very low. Indeed, when the Peace Agreement was submitted to the people who should have ratify peace, the participation to the referendum was of just 34% and the No camp actually won. Of course, much can be said as to the very wrong decision by President Santos to send the Peace Agreement to a referendum instead of to a Constituent Assembly (as the FARC was asking) which would have guaranteed participation.

But, facts are facts, and the Peace Agreement was rejected by a little majority of the minority who voted.

So now, it will be very important to see the result of the Presidential elections, although the Parliamentary vote, last March, has already returned a right wing majority in the National Assembly. 

The FARC once again has appealed to the international community to act and move quickly to ensure peace is not condemned to slowly die in Colombia, after 50 years of long and painful conflict.

Former guerrillas committed to peace

While the right is concentrating its efforts in returning Colombia to the dark days of war, the FARC former guerrillas are struggling to “invent” a communitarian and sustainable life for themselves and the community where they have been settling. They still live in the so called ETCR, Territorial Spaces for Training and Reincorporation, and there they are trying to develop production and service projects which should provide them, their families and the community around them with work and some form of alternative economy.

In the ECTR Aldemar Galan, in the region of Cauca, the former guerrillas’ community announced they have finally been able to buy some 500 little chicken which will constitute the first of the production projects of that specific Space.