In a bid to aid ongoing peace talks, Colombian Attorney General Luz Camargo temporarily suspended arrest warrants for nine members of the illegal armed group Second Marquetalia. This move, which was confirmed on Thursday, shows a novel approach in Colombia’s longstanding struggle to secure lasting peace from decades of internal conflict.
Camargo gets the power to suspend these warrants under Resolution 65 of 2024. As stated in this resolution:
According to Article 2.1.6.3. of Decree number 1081 of 2015 the Attorney General of the Nation, acting as the competent authority, shall immediately suspend arrest warrants issued or to be issued against representative members of illegal armed organizations engaged in dialogues, negotiations, or peace agreements, for the strict term requested by the national Government.
Moreover, Colombian officials can undertake two types of negotiation processes with renegade armed groups according to Law 2272 of 2022, which was endorsed by President Gustavo Petro. It describes:
(i) Negotiations with organized armed groups outside the law engaged in political dialogues to establish peace agreements. (ii) Approaches and discussions with organized armed groups or structured criminal organizations involved in high-impact crime, aiming to achieve their submission to justice and dismantlement.
Despite signing a peace agreement in 2016, Columbia’s internal armed conflict has announced a concerning death toll of at least 260,000 people in its roughly sixty-year span. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) noted that amid the worldwide pandemic, the humanitarian impact of the conflict had intensified, with civilians’ exposure to risk and fear heightening in certain Colombian regions.
However, in a context where Camargo’s move to suspend arrest warrants has raised inevitable questions regarding the handling of illegal groups, it was stressed that the ongoing investigations linked to these members will proceed uninterrupted, notwithstanding the temporary suspension of arrest warrants.
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