The “Total Peace” policy proposal of President Gustavo Petro appears to confusing Colombia’s illegal armed groups.
In a press statement, guerrilla group ELN said that the government’s “Humane Security and Total Peace” proposal was causing confusion, which it is.
Petro’s “Total Peace” proposal seeks to implement a 2016 peace deal with the now defunct guerrilla group FARC, resume peace talks with the ELN and negotiate the demobilization of so-called “Organized Armed Groups (GAO’s) like paramilitary organization AGC.
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Peace talks with the mafia?
The government’s initiatives apparently gave mafia bosses the impression that they would receive judicial benefits if they dismantled their organized crime groups, also known as GDO’s.
In a letter to Petro, a coalition of GDO’s and jailed former paramilitary commanders said they wanted to take part in the “Total Peace” process early last month.
According to the ELN, “qualifying organized crime groups… with ties to the elites’ interests as if they were opposition organizations” would “grant impunity and benefits to the major capos tied to powerful economic and political sectors, and the military.”
The AGC had already distanced itself from the GDO’s and the jailed former AUC bosses while reiterating their willingness to resume negotiation about their possible demobilization and disarmament.
The confusion appears to be due to the fact that neither Petro nor Interior Minister Alfonso Prada ever clarified whether or not the “Total Peace” proposal included organized crime.
Petro proposes multilateral ceasefire with Colombia’s illegal armed groups
International Humanitarian Law
Prada’s bill specified that the negotiations would be with groups that fit the description of an organized armed group as specified by International Humanitarian Law (IHL).
Humane Security and Total Peace bill
What apparently confused the ELN is that IHL doesn’t take into account whether an illegal armed group has a political agenda or not.
The organized crime groups apparently believed they could take part in Petro’s “Total Peace” process despite the fact that they aren’t considered GAO’s by international law.
The government has failed to rule out the participation of GDO’s in the “Total Peace” process through, for example, a more lenient interpretation of international law.
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The GDO threat
Members of Medellin crime syndicate “La Oficina de Envigado”
The ELN, and GAO’s like the AGC and FARC dissident groups are held responsible for most of the violence in Colombia’s countryside.
The GDO’s, on the other hand, are mainly held responsible for the violence in Colombia’s cities, where gangs are in control particularly in poor neighborhoods.
Medellin authorities estimate that local crime syndicate “La Oficina de Envigado,” has approximately 2,500 members in their city alone.
La Oficina, and GDO’s like “Los Pachenca” from Santa Marta and “La Cordillera” from Pereira, have never shown an interest in politics like the ELN and are barely active outside their cities.
Their combined firepower makes them a major public security threat in Colombia’s cities, which could sabotage any attempt to achieve “Total Peace” in the country, especially if the GDO’s decide to join forces like the collection of paramilitary groups that formed the AGC.