Colombia's peace process with far-right paramilitaries was thrown into crisis after the country's constitutional court rejected key provisions of the deal that human rights groups had criticized as too lenient.
Ernesto Baez, a leading commander of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, known as the AUC, on Friday called ruling "a mortal blow for peace in this country."
Asked whether the paramilitaries were considering rearming, Baez said, "That's not what we want to happen, but all options are possible."
He added leaders would meet to discuss how to respond to the ruling.
The constitutional court late on Thursday overturned key components of the Justice and Peace Law that resulted from peace negotiations that lead to the demobilization of more than 30,000 fighters of the paramilitary groups, listed as "foreign terrorist organizations" by the US State Department.
"President [Alvaro] Uribe has been bending over backwards to give the paramilitaries everything they wanted and that included passing a law that was inconsistent with the rule of law," said Maria McFarland of Human Rights Watch, a group that had criticized the law.
The court ruled paramilitaries convicted of crimes before the peace process have their sentences suspended, depending on continued good behavior.
Warlords who were condemned for massacres, such as former AUC leader Salvatore Mancuso, could again face decades behind bars if they return to paramilitary activities. Mancuso was sentenced in absence to 40 years for his role in a massacre of farmers.
The minister of interior and justice, Sabas Pretelt, told Caracol radio that the government was "perplexed and worried" by the ruling, which cannot be appealed. The government has yet to say what it will do next.
Leaders of the AUC -- the umbrella group of far-right paramilitary forces created to fight leftist rebels -- sought a deal that would not force them to spend their lives behind bars for actions during Colombia's four-decade civil war.
The court also ruled that the assets of paramilitary leaders -- acquired legally or illegally -- should be used toward reparations for victims of the paramilitary terror.
The court did not change the maximum sentence of eight years for warlords convicted of crimes after the peace deal. However, it ruled that the paramilitaries would not be able to deduct the time spent in negotiations, as they had agreed to with the government.
Paramilitaries must also give a complete confession of their crimes, and if they are later convicted of a crime that did not previously confess to they will lose all their benefits under the peace deal, the court said.
The paramilitaries, created in the 1980s by drug traffickers and landowners, say they have demobilized all their blocs and have handed over more than 15,000 weapons. The groups are responsible for some of the worst atrocities in Colombia's civil war, carrying out massacres across this country in the name of a national offensive against the rebels and those accused of supporting them.
REBUILDING: A researcher said that it might seem counterintuitive to start talking about reconstruction amid the war with Russia, but it is ‘actually an urgent priority’ Italy is hosting the fourth annual conference on rebuilding Ukraine even as Russia escalates its war, inviting political and business leaders to Rome to promote public-private partnerships on defense, mining, energy and other projects as uncertainty grows about the US’ commitment to Kyiv’s defense. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy were opening the meeting yesterday, which gets under way as Russia accelerated its aerial and ground attacks against Ukraine with another night of pounding missile and drone attacks on Kyiv. Italian organizers said that 100 official delegations were attending, as were 40 international organizations and development banks. There are
The tale of a middle-aged Chinese man, or “uncle,” who disguised himself as a woman to secretly film and share videos of his hookups with more than 1,000 men shook China’s social media, spurring fears for public health, privacy and marital fidelity. The hashtag “red uncle” was the top trending item on China’s popular microblog Sina Weibo yesterday, drawing at least 200 million views as users expressed incredulity and shock. The online posts told of how the man in the eastern city of Nanjing had lured 1,691 heterosexual men into sexual encounters at his home that he then recorded and distributed online. The
TARIFF ACTION: The US embassy said that the ‘political persecution’ against former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro disrespects the democratic traditions of the nation The US and Brazil on Wednesday escalated their row over US President Donald Trump’s support for former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, with Washington slapping a 50 percent tariff on one of its main steel suppliers. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva threatened to reciprocate. Trump has criticized the prosecution of Bolsonaro, who is on trial for allegedly plotting to cling on to power after losing 2022 elections to Lula. Brasilia on Wednesday summoned Washington’s top envoy to the country to explain an embassy statement describing Bolsonaro as a victim of “political persecution” — echoing Trump’s description of the treatment of Bolsonaro as
CEREMONY EXPECTED: Abdullah Ocalan said he believes in the power of politics and social peace, not weapons, and called on the group to put that into practice The jailed leader of a Kurdish militant group yesterday renewed a call for his fighters to lay down their arms, days before a symbolic disarmament ceremony is expected to take place as a first concrete step in a peace process with the Turkish state. In a seven-minute video message broadcast on pro-Kurdish Medya Haber’s YouTube channel, Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), said that the peace initiative had reached a stage that required practical steps. “It should be considered natural for you to publicly ensure the disarmament of the relevant groups in a way that addresses the expectations
RSS