Colombia: FARC march for peace in Bogota
The FARC on their way to the capital aboard "chivas" these colorful traditional buses, to demand the application of the 2016 peace agreements, on the road between Medellin and Bogota, October 29, 2020. JOAQUIN SARMIENTO / AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
7 min
After the Minga, the procession of 8000 natives who had marched towards the capital last week, the ex-combatants of the FARC are also on their way to Bogota, in a “Pilgrimage for life and peace”.
Their arrival is scheduled for Sunday.
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The ex-guerrillas are marching to demand the true implementation of the 2006 peace agreement and an end to the violence and assassinations of which they are the target, particularly in the departments of Cauca and Caquetá.
According to the former guerrilla FARC party, which laid down its arms after the signing of the peace agreement, nearly 240 ex-combatants have been killed since then.
Él es Teo Panclasta, from Carrizal #Antioquia.
Vamos para Bogotá colmados de sueños y esperanza.
La paz no es sólo con los armados grupos, es también con la naturaleza.
🕊 # PorLaVidaYPorLaPaz pic.twitter.com/dFHgSNMmFN
FARC #PorLaVidaYPorLaPaz (@PartidoFARC) November 1, 2020
Stopover in Medellin
Former FARC combatants passed through Medellin, the country's second largest city.
"
We are there to defend peace, life and the peace agreements signed in Havana
", this is the message that was conveyed.
"
In Bogota, we want to meet in Bolivar Square to show the country that words are our only weapons, and that these white flags which accompany us and which we carry are our only tools of claim
", explains one of the leaders. history of the movement, Pastor Alape, to our correspondent in Medellin,
Najet Benrabaa
.
The ex-guerrillas of the FARC, marching towards Bogota, made a stopover in Medellin: listen to the report of our correspondent
Najet Benrabaa
Ex-guerrillas, FARC militants, social leaders, assassinations follow one another in Colombia.
Dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), which rejected the peace agreement signed in 2016, the guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN), the last active guerrilla in the country, and narco-trafficking gangs operate in some regions such as Cauca.
They are fighting over control of the coca plantations (the raw material for cocaine) and marijuana, as well as the export of the drug from the Pacific to the United States and Central America.
►
To read also:
In
Colombia, ELN guerrilla leader killed in army operation
Thus, the indigenous Colombian senator Feliciano Valencia was the target this week of an armed attack, from which he escaped unscathed, by going to the commemoration of a massacre committed in the department of Cauca, according to indigenous and official sources.
Feliciano Valencia received the National Peace Prize in 2000 for his efforts in the pacification of Cauca.
He led the mobilization of some 7,000 indigenous people, who rallied to Bogota to protest against the government and the resurgence of violence affecting their territories.
►
To read also
: In Colombia, the Indians carry their claims to the heart of the capital
A 200 km walk for peace
And last weekend, the FARC party denounced the murder on Saturday of two ex-guerrillas respectively in the departments of Cauca (South-West) and Caqueta (South).
It was on October 21 that the ex-guerrillas began this "pilgrimage" for peace of more than 200 km to protest against the assassination of theirs despite the signing of the peace agreement.
"
We call the attention of the country to (...) reject the violent actions of all actors, including the state,
" Pastor Alape, ex-guerrilla commander and now leader of the resulting political party, told AFP. from the ranks of the ex-Marxist rebellion.
Dozens of ex-rebels have left the municipality of Mesetas, in the south of the country, and are expected to be joined by others, on foot or in vehicles, by their arrival in Bogota scheduled for November 1.
"We are going to ask for a dialogue with President Duque so that he can tell us whether his government is in a position to guarantee the lives of Colombians or whether it will maintain his party's tendency to incite war", added Pasto Alape. .
In a
recent report, the UN mission in Colombia
warned of "
the relentless violence against ex-combatants
" of the Farc.
Some 13,000 men and women have renounced armed struggle following the peace agreement, which provides for alternative sentences to prison for rebels guilty of crimes, provided they speak the truth, compensate the victims and commit to stop resorting to violence.
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