Colombia's 2016 peace agreement is in crisis, despite the commitment of Comunes
In 2017 Colombia's Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) gave up its weapons and began a process of demobilisation, based on a 2016 peace agreement which promised the Farc political legitimacy and protection from capitalist-backed paramilitary violence, as well as comprehensive rural reform for the benefit of peasants.
Highlighting that the exploitation and victimisation of peasants by powerful capitalist interests, alongside gross land inequalities, explains the persistence of civil war, the peace agreement calls for the "progressive access to rural property to those who live in the countryside, and in particular, to rural women and to the most vulnerable communities, and by legalising and democratising property and promoting broader ownership of land, so that it fulfils its social function."
Colombia's land distribution is the most unequal in Latin America and, according to 2018 data, 81 per cent of land — commonly the most fertile land for production — was owned by 1 per cent of the largest farms. This is in spite of multiple land reforms passed in Congress, such as one in 2011, all of which have been progressive in theory but opposed by capitalist-oriented institutions in practice. In Colombia, "anti-restitution" paramilitaries are regularly funded by landowners to oppose the practical implementation of land reforms.
Moreover, from the outset, peace negotiations were opposed by senior agro-industrial representatives. The president of Fedegan, the main federation for large-scale cattle ranchers, opposed the peace agreement on the basis that it would "stifle entrepreneurship and threaten landownership in rural areas." Put more accurately, such rural-based landowners worry that the rural development reform component of the peace agreement threatens their economic investments and political influence.
Showing a lack of political commitment to land reform, Colombia's right-wing government recently appointed Jaime Castro to oversee the rural development reform initiative pertaining to the peace agreement. Castro has represented some of the largest palm oil corporations, including companies that have been charged for violently forcing peasants from their land. In other words, a leading spokesperson for corporate interests associated with using violence against peasants has been assigned to oversee what was intended to be a progressive land reform programme to assist some of the most vulnerable members of Colombian society.
Indeed, agro-industrial capitalists, like those represented by Castro, have been a leading sponsor of right-wing paramilitaries, who serve the dual function of terrorising trade-union activists and left-wing insurgents while violently displacing peasants from their land to make way for capitalist investment.
Making a mockery of the idea that the peace agreement will protect Farc and social activists, such paramilitary death squads have murdered more than 150 ex-Farc combatants, in addition to more than 500 left-wing social activists, especially trade union members, since it was signed in late 2016.
Recently, an ex-Farc combatant was murdered by paramilitaries after having been denied protection by the state, suggesting that state institutions are reluctant to provide the essential security measures sanctioned by the peace agreement. Since the peace process of 2017, the Farc has run as a mainstream political party in elections, with no armed wing — despite continued attacks by right-wing paramilitaries who have not disarmed.
Meanwhile, Colombia's government has commanded Farc's bodyguards to return their firearms in the run-up to Farc's first local election campaign. This puts some of the Colombian labour movement's most capable and dedicated leaders and activists in danger.
Rodrigo Londono, the Farc party leader, responded in an interview covering the killings of Farc members: "Even though they kill us, we're committed to peace. They do not kill only former Farc members, but also human rights and environmental activists. This is a consequence of the civil war and is still an issue we must overcome."
Indeed, whereas Farc traded in its weapons and money, provides logistical and material support for its former military members to reintegrate into civilian society, co-operates with transitional justice procedures and expels Farc members arguing for a return to insurgency, the Colombian state is failing to meet its side of the peace bargain.
Human rights groups, academics, and think tanks have noted a serious lack of political will to implement peace agreement-related programmes intended to address the underlying grievances that have sustained civil war for more than half a century.
On the other hand, a central motivation for the state's willingness to negotiate has been to get Farc insurgents out the way so that extraction-oriented multinationals can continue to expand their business operations, especially in territories that were previously denied to them by leftist insurgents.
In a recent interview with the academics Hylton and Tauss, the former president of Ecopetrol, Colombia's increasingly privatised oil and gas company, declared: "With peace, we hope to be able to go into Caqueta, Arauca, and Catacumbo with greater strength, and Putumayo with much greater strength." These territories have been historic guerilla-held strongholds.
Similarly, the IMF, a representative of multinational corporations sometimes nicknamed the "Institute for Misery and Famine," defended the negotiations with Farc, saying that "peace would be good for business." Hence, the 2015 peace agreement can be understood as a part of a new growth strategy oriented around multinationals based in imperialist states, which are increasingly investing in Colombia's mining and petroleum industries.
While such multinationals have benefited from the agreement, very little material assistance has been provided by the Colombian state to peasants and rural workers, which was a key Farc demand for signing the peace agreement in the first instance.
In an interview for this article, Manuel Bolivar, director of New Colombia (Farc's broadcasting service) as well as a Farc political leader, said: "Progress in the implementation of the agreements, referring to the first point, Rural Development Reform, has not advanced. There are no real achievements that have resulted in the positive transformation of the underdeveloped conditions in which peasants and farm workers live, especially in relation to the abolition of the large estates as a traditional and violent barrier to this change."
Many in Colombia's labour movement are becoming increasingly sceptical of the possibility of defending the peace agreement's implementation due to the widespread hostility of pro-capitalist institutions. Edgar, a central committee member with the Communist Party, in response to an interview question in Bogota asking what Colombia's labour movement can do politically to defend the agreement, stated bluntly that: "It's a dream, a dream, a dream."
He stressed that various capitalist interests, especially landed factions, have organised around the right-wing government and are determined to prevent the implementation of the peace agreement — even at the expense of using further political violence.
Last month 20 senior Farc figures announced their return to armed insurgency — although more than 95 per cent of Farc's membership has refused to rearm and the Farc party has condemned and expelled the dissidents.
Those who rearmed argued that it was necessary because the Colombian state has betrayed the agreements and failed to protect Farc activists and labour movement leaders operating openly and peacefully as legal political activists.
Ivan Marquez, previously the second in command of Farc's insurgent organisation and historically not known as a hardliner, declared: "How naive we were for not remembering the wise words of our commander in chief, Manuel Marulanda Velez, when he had warned us that weapons were the only guarantee of compliance with the agreements. The sad reality is that they put us in a rabbit trap."
Corporate social media giants pandered to counter-insurgency interests within days by closing down the social media accounts of Farc dissidents. The dissidents have called themselves "Farc-EP" (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia — People's Army) — and the leadership released a 30-minute YouTube video explaining their reasons for renewing the armed struggle: the video, alongside the organisations' website is no longer accessible.
Ultimately, the vast majority of Farc's members remain committed to the peace process and will now consider changing their political party's name at their next congress — influenced by the desire to distance themselves from the rearming and military-oriented Farc-EP.
Still, with so little of the peace agreement being implemented by congress, the continuing assassinations of social activists and the state's refusal to protect Farc as a political party, Colombia's 2016 peace agreement faces a major crisis.
It could turn out that many more social activists, workers, and peasants in the near future will turn to armed struggle and the Farc-EP if only as a strategy to guarantee that the state fulfils its commitment to the peace agreement.
As such, the Colombian state will have to contend with left-wing insurgents for the next few years at least, while a progressive government could find a potential ally in the Farc's political party which is arguing against a return to the armed struggle.
Originally published 2nd October 2019, this article is republished from the Morning Star Newspaper – the online Morning Star edition can be found HERE
October 3, 2019 December 10, 2021 Oliver DoddComunes, Peace Talks2016 peace agreement, Colombian Conflict, Colombian peace process, Comunes, FARC-EP, Peace making
Previous Post Death squads in Colombia – paid for by big business
Next Post Amid intensifying state repression, Colombia's ELN imposes an 'armed strike'