The High Commissioner for Peace, Danilo Rueda, announces a unilateral ceasefire with ten criminal groups in Bogotá.
(dpa) After the Colombian government’s push for a new peace process, ten criminal groups in the South American country declared a unilateral ceasefire. The gangs pledged to stop killing, torturing and kidnapping, High Commissioner for Peace Danilo Rueda said on Wednesday, according to a report by RCN TV. Criminal organizations include left-wing rebel groups, right-wing paramilitaries and drug cartels.
After taking office in August, the new left-wing President Gustavo Petro announced that he wanted to restart the peace process in the former civil war country. The aim is to consistently implement the peace agreement with the left-wing guerrilla organization FARC, to resume the broken negotiations with the smaller rebel group ELN and also to enter into dialogue with the numerous criminal gangs.
A bill on how to deal with fighters of criminal groups is already before Congress. If they put down their arms and surrender, they could expect a 60 percent reduction in their sentence and keep 10 percent of their wealth. There were similar regulations in the peace process with the FARC guerrillas.
For 52 years, Colombia suffered from a civil war between left-wing rebels, right-wing paramilitaries and the military. 220,000 people died and millions were displaced. After the peace agreement between the government and FARC in 2016, the security situation initially improved. However, many fighters have now gone underground again and joined criminal gangs. Again and again, trade unionists, social activists and environmentalists are deliberately killed.