‘Over 500 Ex-Guerrillas Killed After Signing Colombia Peace Deal’

Some 521 former FARC guerrillas who signed a landmark peace deal have been killed in the decade since the rebel army laid down arms, Colombia’s Ombudsman reported Wednesday.

The 2016 accord significantly reduced the violence of one of Latin America’s bloodiest conflicts, although remote areas of Colombia continue to suffer from the presence of illegal armed groups.

Ex-combatants are mainly killed by drug traffickers and rebels who broke away from the peace deal, according to the Ombudsman.

“Peace requires that people who laid down their arms can continue their life projects without threats, and that victims receive justice and reparation,” it wrote in a report.

Killings of former guerrillas rose by 38.5 percent last year, it said, at a time when the country is breaking its own world record for cocaine production rates.

Out of over 14,100 signatories, some 11,000 ex-combatants continue to comply with the terms of the 2016 agreement, it said.

The deal saw the originally leftist forces lay down arms in exchange for a seat at the political table, with guaranteed representation in Congress for eight years.

It also established alternative sentences to prison for those who confess their crimes, make reparations to their victims and pledge not to return to violence.

Right-wing President Abelardo de la Espriella, three months into the job, firmly opposes dialogue with armed groups and has vowed to send them all “to the grave or prison.”

The Ombudsman warned against “undermining” the progress achieved in the country battered by a decades-long armed conflict.

In an interview with AFP last week, Ombudswoman Iris Marin said “no one wants to stop the war” in Colombia.

“The armed groups don’t want to stop the war, and they’ve proven it. They are cruel, they haven’t taken advantage of the opportunities for peace. And the national government, for that very reason, isn’t going to stop the war either,” she said.

The report also notes a 740 percent increase in forced displacement between 2017 and 2025.