Colombia’s controversial Inspector General Alejandro Ordoñez claims he would rather resign before granting impunity to FARC members if peace talks result in the group’s demobilization.
“I’d rather give up before compromising with impunity,” said Ordoñez at an event in the country’s second city Medellin Monday. Ordoñez has generated headlines in recent times amid accusations that he denied the holocaust and bought his November re-election. The staunchly catholic official has also spoken out against gay marriage and was even ordered to retract statements referring to sexual education as “a mass campaign to promote abortion.”
His most recent statements however, echo the sentiments of many international human rights watchdogs who have expressed concern that Colombia will grant impunity to armed actors to achieve peace.
“The perpetrators of these heinous crimes should be tried and prosecuted,” said Ordoñez. “Everyone accepts transitional justice but this does not mean impunity, and rest assured, I will not compromise on this matter. I would prefer to resign than compromise.”
The Inspector General said that the exclusion of some crimes from Colombia’s Legal Framework for Peace, legislation to facilitate transitional justice, will lead to victims being sacrificed “on the altar of impunity.”
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“If war crimes that are not committed systematically are excluded,” said Ordoñez, “then torture that is not systematic, kidnapping, forced disappearances, sexual violence, forced displacement, child recruitment … all of these things, if not committed systematically, then they will be excluded … If that’s not impunity, please explain what is.”
“The Legal Framework for Peace will allow the FARC to become a political party which would be armed and financed by drug-trafficking,” said the Inspector General.“No one can say that I am an enemy of peace … but I would prefer to resign than to compromise on this matter.”
Ordoñez said that the FARC should deliver drug-trafficking routes and maps showing where more than one million landmines are planted, along with the bodies of the disappeared, and the publication of links with politicians.
According to reports nearly one thousand people gathered in Medellin’s Plaza Mayor at the event to honor Ordoñez, organized by the former governor of Antioquia, Juan Gomez, along with other Medellin business and political personalities.
The event also focussed on Ordoñez’ attitudes towards abortion, gay marriage and divorce. The Inspector General called divorce a “disgrace to society,” which “increases the number of teenage mothers.” The official added that judging the annual increase in abortions “as a democratic gain is a scandal.”
Sources