Colombia’s government will seek emergency measures to implement a bogged down peace process with the now-defunct guerrilla group FARC, according to the foreign minister.
On top of this, President Gustavo Petro will ask the United Nations security council to extend the peace process that was agreed with the former guerrillas in 2016, Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo told press.
The government wants to add five to eight years to the peace process in order to guarantee full implementation of the peace deal, said Murillo.
We are proposing an adjustment to the implementation framework that was designed for 15 years. With the delays, we must seriously consider extending the implementation period of this plan.
Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo
The government may come with extraordinary measures in the coming two years as part of an “emergency plan” to speed up elements of the peace process that have barely seen progress.
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A promised agricultural reform, social and economic development programs in the countryside and the implementation of recommendations by the Truth Commission have made little progress since 2016.
The proposed emergency plan seeks to remove “structural obstacles” that have impeded progress in the implementation of these elements of the peace deal, according to Murillo.
Petro and Murillo’s predecessor, Alvaro Leyva, have repeatedly claimed that the government’s attempts to implement the peace deal are being hindered.
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Among other things, the president has proposed a constituent assembly, which can change the constitution, to secure a successful peace process.
Apart from administrational difficulties, the peace process has been actively opposed by illegal armed groups, including those formed by dissident former FARC members.
The government has tried to negotiate these groups’ participation in “Total Peace,” but so far without much success.