Colombia’s president had a bold peace plan. It is not working
EconomistNOV 2024
Colombia: Prosecutors Say FARC Dissidents Killed Eight Religious Leaders
Above: FARC dissident commanders Iván Mordisco and Calarcá in San Vicente del Caguán on April 16, 2023. Image copyright: Joaquin Sarmiento/AFP/Getty Images
The Spin
Pro-government narrative
President Gustavo Petro's ambitious Total Peace sought to finally bring the country's decades-long armed conflict to an end, ensuring that guerrillas would not be persecuted once demobilized and disarmed. Isolated episodes of violence are sad but do not discredit the dialogue-based plan, as there has been success elsewhere in the country in addressing structural violence.
Government-critical narrative
A former guerrilla himself, Petro won the presidency with a bold plan to finally bring the decades-old internal conflict in Colombia to an end, but his so-called total peace has failed. Ceasefires actually allowed armed groups to expand as the government opted not to apply military pressure on them, and Colombia is now in the middle of another escalation of violence.