Former guerrillas launch peace plea in Colombia ahead of Abelardo de la Espriella inauguration

La Hormiga, Colombia – Demobilized fighters from the Comandos de la Frontera (CDF) guerrilla group made a public plea to Colombia’s incoming government this week to respect the country’s peace process. 

In a letter, the 99 ex-combatants who put down their arms in June called on the new president to guarantee their ongoing reintegration into civilian life.

Now living in a Comprehensive Training and Temporary Location Zone (ZOCIUT) in the southern Putumayo province, the former fighters fear arrest or attack by the new administration, which has promised an all-out war on armed groups and an end to outgoing President Gustavo Petro’s peace process.

On June 18, after more than a year-long negotiation process between government delegates and leaders of the Coordinador Nacional Ejercito Bolivariano (CNEB) – the organization that encompasses the CDF – 99 combatants opted to hand in their arms and begin the transition to civilian life.

A dormitory building in the ZOCIUT in Putumayo. Image credit: Euan Wallace.

In the weeks since, carpenters, painters, and landscapers have rustled together a compound comprised of dormitories, a mess hall, and even a gym. 

The ex-guerrillas receive classes, psychological assistance, and three square meals a day.

“It was a long process – about two years – to get to this point where we are right now. We’ve been here in this area for a month,” said Jose Villa, who asked to use a pseudonym for fear of his identity being compromised. The 39-year-old spent eight years in the CDF after abandoning his life as a yuca, plantain, and sugar cane farmer. 

Speaking to Latin America Reports, he described the process of surrender as nervewracking: “You never know if the government is setting a trap.”

But Villa said that he and his comrades turned in their guns because they believe in a peace process. 

“We want to contribute to peace… so we took the first step to show the Colombian government that yes, we are committed to peace,” he explained.

Villa was one of seven ex-combatants who read the letter addressed to de la Espriella calling for the new president to uphold the agreement they signed with the Petro administration. 

“Mr. President, we have demonstrated our commitment to peace with concrete actions: we demobilized, we complied with the surrender of weapons and equipment, and we took a decisive step toward legality,” read the letter.

Ex-fighters read a letter addressed to Abelardo de la Espriella. Image credit: Alfie Pannell.

De la Espriella’s presidential campaign pledged an iron-fisted crackdown on insecurity in Colombia, including all-out war on guerrilla groups like the CDF. He also said he would scrap Petro’s ‘Total Peace’ policy of negotiating with armed criminal organizations and instead use military force to bend rebels into submission.

In the ZOCIUT, multiple ex-combatants described their fear of what might happen to them under the new government – from arrest warrants to an assault on the camp.

“There’s a fear, an apprehension about the new president, because all he says is that he doesn’t want peace – that all he wants is, in other words, is war,” said Claudia Hernández, another ex-combatant who asked to use a pseudonym.

Villa hopes that with this letter, the president-elect can see that he and his comrades have made an effort to support an end to the armed conflict. 

“Of course one thinks about what is going to happen… but with [de la Espriella] coming in, he needs to see that we are supporting peace and we want peace and we want him to support us to continue this process,” said the ex-combatant.

Armando Novoa, head of the government’s peace delegation in Putumayo, argued that the 99 inhabitants of the ZOCIUT are protected both by the Colombian constitution and international humanitarian law.

“We would reasonably hope that the president’s words are not merely empty rhetoric, but that his actions are consistent with his constitutional mandate,” Novoa told Latin America Reports.

But he also acknowledged the high level of uncertainty the demobilized fighters must wrestle with ahead of de la Espriella’s inauguration.

Now, the 99 ex-fighters sit in civilian clothes waiting for the new president to decide their fate.

Despite de la Espriella’s harsh rhetoric, they maintain hope that they can return to a normal life and avoid a return to arms.

“We’re still hopeful that things will work out and that everything will turn out okay,” said Hernández. “I don’t want to go back.”

Featured image description: Ex-combatants at the ZOCIUT in Putumayo.

Featured image credit: Euan Wallace.