Colombia’s Inspector General Alejandro Ordoñez lashed out against the rebel group FARC, while questioning the achievements of the peace talks that have so far succeeded in defining terms of political participation for the guerrillas, in an attempt to end a half decade of civil conflict.
“The FARC will only set down their weapons, they won’t turn them in,” said Ordoñez. “The FARC will be an armed political party.”
He also declared that the members of the FARC had been convicted of crimes against humanity in international court, precluding them from participating in political office. “It is a barbarity that we are opening this door saying that the FARC are not condemned of crimes against humanity.”
Ordoñez, known as a stanch Catholic-conservative with strident anti-gay and anti-abortion policies, is a controversial figure in Colombia. According to local media, the Inspector General was under investigation in September for alleged offenses against public administration, libel, slander, and abuse of authority, among others.
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In addition, Bogota’s Mayor Gustavo Petro, a former member of urban guerrilla group M-19 and political target of the Inspector General, has sued Ordoñez in the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, accusing Ordoñez, among other charges, of violating human rights by absolving members of Congress convicted by the Constitutional Court for having ties to paramilitary groups.
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