Colombia’s President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella announced on Monday that he will close the Peace Commissioner’s Office, which was in charge of negotiating peace and implementing peace deals with illegal armed groups.
“The Office of the Peace Commissioner is coming to an end, because there will be no more sham peace processes during my administration,” said De la Espriella in his weekly address to the nation that was broadcast on his social media platforms.
According to the far-right president-elect, who will take office on August 7, other presidential commissioners that will disappear are those of National Reconciliation. and the Office of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law.
The functions of these offices will be taken over by the Interior, Foreign and Defense ministries that, according to De la Espriella, have been doubling the work of the presidential commissioners.
“These are functions that, by law, are already carried out by other ministries,” so the government can “avoid duplication and extra costs,” said the president-elect.
De la Espriella seems keen to abruptly end the peace policy of his predecessor, President Gustavo Petro, for being too lenient to illegal armed groups.
The president-elect also promised to close war crimes tribunal JEP, which has been trying thousands of former guerrillas and former members of the military.
De la Espriella could only do this through legislation that would change the constitution and the international treaties that protect the victims of an armed conflict between the State and the now-defunct guerrilla organization FARC.
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