How the U.S. terrorist list is getting in the way of peace in Colombia

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — The erstwhile rebel commandant erstwhile sat crossed a array from Secretary of State John F. Kerry. He signed the historical bid woody that ended Colombia’s 52-year interior conflict. He accepted work for kidnappings and killings by his guerrillas, apologized to the victims, became a subordinate of a ineligible governmental enactment and was elected a legislator successful the country’s Congress.

But to the U.S. government, Pablo Catatumbo is inactive a terrorist.

Five years aft the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia turned successful its weapons and committed to peace, the United States continues to database the radical arsenic a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Catatumbo and dozens of his erstwhile comrades stay “specially designated nationals” — radical connected to terrorism, cause trafficking oregon countries that person been targeted with sanctions by the U.S. Treasury.

As a result, helium was forced to measurement down arsenic ineligible typical of his governmental enactment and to retreat from a java start-up that helps erstwhile combatants reintegrate into society.

U.S. officials successful Colombia are prohibited from moving with erstwhile FARC combatants specified arsenic Catatumbo — and sometimes, from being successful the aforesaid country with them.

The interaction is far-reaching. The FARC’s inclusion connected the State Department’s database of Foreign Terrorist Organizations restricts U.S. officials from backing programs aimed astatine advancing the bid accords successful which erstwhile combatants enactment oregon benefit. The United States has poured hundreds of millions of dollars of assistance to enactment the bid accords, but nary of it goes toward a cornerstone programme to incentivize replacement crops for coca — the basal constituent of cocaine — oregon a formerly FARC-led effort to destruct onshore mines.

During the peace negotiations successful Havana, Obama medication officials said successful 2015 that if the FARC met the criteria for delisting, the United States would earnestly see it, according to Bernard Aronson, who was the U.S. peculiar envoy to the bid process.

But 5 years aft the accords were signed, U.S. sanctions proceed to make barriers to the afloat reintegration of ex-FARC members, according to interviews with astir 2 twelve erstwhile combatants, U.S. and Colombian officials and others. By keeping the FARC connected the list, critics say, the United States could undermine the bid it vowed to support.

“It’s a large contradiction,” Catatumbo said. “We signed a bid accord that the U.S. authorities backed.

“The U.S. gave a large woody of enactment to the war. They request to enactment the peace, too.”

The FARC’s listing is present nether review, according to the State Department. Each designation is taxable to a reappraisal each 5 years, but the past clip the section formally assessed the FARC listing was successful April 2015. The process was delayed successful portion by the pandemic, a State Department authoritative said.

The U.S. Embassy successful Colombia declined to comment. U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg told a Colombian newspaper successful February 2020 that the FARC remained connected the violent database “because, arsenic we know, determination are immoderate dissident groups inactive progressive successful narcotrafficking and violence.”

Juan Manuel Santos, the erstwhile Colombian president who successful 2016 won the Nobel Peace Prize for his enactment negotiating the bid accords, said the United States “should person taken the FARC disconnected immoderate clip ago.” He asked Washington to instrumentality the FARC disconnected the database during the negotiations, he said, and expected it wrong 2 to 3 years.

“The FARC gave up their arms and complied with a justness strategy and to a bid process and they’re inactive connected the list,” Santos said. “This is an outright contradiction.”

Implementation of the bid accords has stalled nether President Iván Duque, who has been highly captious of a woody galore accidental was excessively generous to fighters who committed atrocities during the country’s conflict.

At its highest successful the precocious 1990s, the FARC, flush with cocaine profits, boasted nearly 20,000 fighters and controlled arsenic overmuch arsenic a 4th of Colombian territory. The insurgents terrorized the state with kidnappings, bombings and different attacks. More than 220,000 radical died and millions were displaced from 1964 to 2016.

Catatumbo and different erstwhile members of the FARC secretariat person been charged by the postwar Special Jurisdiction for Peace with warfare crimes and crimes against humanity, kidnappings, murder, forced disappearance, torture, intersexual unit and forced displacement. In a associated connection this month, they accepted work for kidnappings and apologized to the victims and their families.

The Special Jurisdiction for Peace has besides filed charges against apical Colombian subject leaders for allegedly kidnapping and sidesplitting noncombatants and falsely labeling them arsenic combat deaths. At slightest 6,402 Colombians were killed betwixt 2002 and 2008 successful the ungraded known arsenic the “false positives” case.

Today, 13,000 erstwhile FARC combatants are trying to rejoin society. The United Nations estimates that 98 percent stay committed to peace. But 46 percent are unemployed, the United Nations said. In the past 5 years, 292 erstwhile FARC combatants person been killed arsenic unit from dissident groups — those that person rejected the accords — has grown.

Lawyer Diego Martínez represents the FARC earlier the Special Jurisdiction for Peace. If erstwhile combatants are incapable to afloat integrate into society, helium said, “it is casual for them to spell down different paths successful a state wherever illegality reigns.”

One advisor to ex-FARC combatants said that if the United States wants entree to indispensable delicate accusation specified arsenic drug-trafficking routes oregon arms purchases, it needs to beryllium capable to speech to the radical who cognize these details best.

Steve Hege, lawman manager of the Latin America programme astatine the United States Institute of Peace, recalled 2 important meetings astir bid and information successful which a former FARC subordinate entered the country and U.S. Embassy unit members stood up and walked out.

Hege said a gathering betwixt the ambassador and erstwhile FARC commander Rodrigo Londoño “would beryllium fundamental.” It would nonstop the connection that “this insurgency is over,” helium said. “We don’t hold with you, but we privation you to participate. We privation you to person candidates. And we don’t privation you to beryllium killed.”

In precocious 2016, Aronson said, aft the bid statement was signed and Donald Trump was elected president, elder Obama medication officials discussed whether the FARC had met the criteria to assistance the Foreign Terrorist Organization designation.

But respective obstacles stood successful the way. The FARC had turned implicit its weapons to U.N. supervision, but they had not yet been destroyed. Officials were reluctant to marque a large overseas argumentation determination truthful adjacent to the transportation of powerfulness to a caller administration. “Basically, we ran retired of time,” Aronson said.

The European Union removed the radical from its database of violent organizations successful November 2017.

“It’s a question of keeping your word,” Aronson said. “Obviously, a ceremonial investigation would person to beryllium made, but based connected the facts today, it’s hard for maine to judge that 1 could marque a credible lawsuit that the FARC should beryllium designated arsenic a overseas violent organization.”

A State Department authoritative said it’s not antithetic to hold respective years to region a demobilized violent radical from its list. But if circumstances change, the section whitethorn delist a group earlier the five-year review.

The Duque medication has not pushed the United States to region the designation.

“The lists lone restrict a fewer areas of support, which has near america with a precise wide scope to enactment unneurotic connected galore different fronts of implementation,” said Emilio Archila, Duque’s statesmanlike advisor for stabilization and consolidation. He stressed that the determination is up to the United States, not Colombia. While U.S. enactment has been indispensable to the implementation of the bid accords, Archila wrote successful an email, “the enactment is our responsibility.”

It is simply a usurpation of national instrumentality for immoderate U.S. typical to knowingly supply a overseas violent enactment with “material enactment oregon resources,” which tin see fiscal services, lodging, proscription oregon advice. Lawyers for U.S. officials successful Colombia person applied a strict mentation of “material support,” adjacent occasionally prohibiting U.S. Embassy oregon USAID staffers from buying a cupful of java for a subordinate of Comunes, the rebranded ex-FARC governmental party.

A twelvemonth aft the signing of the bid accords, the U.S. Embassy requested waivers to the designation successful 2 areas: prenatal and postnatal attraction for ex-FARC women who became pregnant; and acquisition and vocational grooming for radical recruited arsenic children to beryllium FARC soldiers.

Some U.S. politicians and members of civilian nine person urged the authorities to spell further. A congressionally mandated study from the Western Hemisphere Drug Policy Commission successful December urged the United States to “facilitate assistance to demobilized rebels successful post-conflict zones.”

As Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Colombia this week, advocacy groups asked him to region Comunes from the list.

“It creates the communicative that the lone histrion that has committed crimes against humanity is the FARC,” said Gimena Sánchez-Garzoli of the Washington Office connected Latin America, 1 of the groups that made the request. “It takes distant the authorities work for each the crimes they committed.”

A twelvemonth aft the bid accords, an enactment present announced a pioneering idea.

In an effort to wide millions of quadrate meters of onshore peppered with antipersonnel mines from Colombia’s war, a radical called Humanicemos DH — “Let’s humanize” — sought grooming for erstwhile FARC members successful demining. It claimed to beryllium the world’s archetypal demining enactment made up of erstwhile combatants aft a bid process.

But the lone entity authorized to accredit demining efforts successful Colombia was the Organization of American States. When the U.S. Embassy learned of the relation of erstwhile FARC combatants, it asked the OAS not to assistance accreditation to the group.

The determination upended immoderate of the group’s cardinal partnerships and enactment its enactment astatine a standstill for years.

“The United States is 1 of the main funders of excavation enactment successful the world,” said Germán Balanta, a method manager for Humanicemos DH. “But we person not received a peso from them due to the fact that of who our bosses were.”

It took much than 4 years for the radical to announce, this month, its archetypal palmy demining project. Twelve erstwhile combatants cleared a spot of onshore belonging to an Indigenous assemblage — successful a section erstwhile controlled by the FARC.