{"id":983316,"date":"2026-08-05T23:30:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T23:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/983316\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T23:30:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T23:30:20","slug":"former-guerrillas-launch-peace-plea-in-colombia-ahead-of-abelardo-de-la-espriella-inauguration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/983316\/","title":{"rendered":"Former guerrillas launch peace plea in Colombia ahead of Abelardo de la Espriella inauguration"},"content":{"rendered":"

La Hormiga, Colombia \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>Demobilized fighters from the Comandos de la Frontera (CDF) guerrilla group made a public plea to Colombia\u2019s incoming government this week to respect the country\u2019s peace process.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a letter, the 99 ex-combatants who put down their arms in June called on the new president to guarantee their ongoing reintegration into civilian life.<\/p>\n

Now living in a Comprehensive Training and Temporary Location Zone (ZOCIUT) in the southern Putumayo province, the former fighters fear arrest or attack by the new administration, which has promised an all-out war on armed groups and an end to outgoing President Gustavo Petro\u2019s peace process.<\/p>\n

On June 18, after more than a year-long negotiation process between government delegates and leaders of the Coordinador Nacional Ejercito Bolivariano (CNEB) \u2013 the organization that encompasses the CDF \u2013 99 combatants opted to hand in their arms and begin the transition to civilian life.<\/p>\n

\"\"A dormitory building in the ZOCIUT in Putumayo. Image credit: Euan Wallace.<\/p>\n

In the weeks since, carpenters, painters, and landscapers have rustled together a compound comprised of dormitories, a mess hall, and even a gym.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ex-guerrillas receive classes, psychological assistance, and three square meals a day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a long process \u2013 about two years \u2013 to get to this point where we are right now. We\u2019ve been here in this area for a month,\u201d said Jose Villa, who asked to use a pseudonym for fear of his identity being compromised. The 39-year-old spent eight years in the CDF after abandoning his life as a yuca, plantain, and sugar cane farmer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking to Latin America Reports, he described the process of surrender as nervewracking: \u201cYou never know if the government is setting a trap.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Villa said that he and his comrades turned in their guns because they believe in a peace process.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to contribute to peace\u2026 so we took the first step to show the Colombian government that yes, we are committed to peace,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Villa was one of seven ex-combatants who read the letter addressed to de la Espriella calling for the new president to uphold the agreement they signed with the Petro administration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. President, we have demonstrated our commitment to peace with concrete actions: we demobilized, we complied with the surrender of weapons and equipment, and we took a decisive step toward legality,\u201d read the letter.<\/p>\n

\"\"Ex-fighters read a letter addressed to Abelardo de la Espriella. Image credit: Alfie Pannell.<\/p>\n

De la Espriella\u2019s presidential campaign pledged an iron-fisted crackdown on insecurity in Colombia, including all-out war on guerrilla groups like the CDF. He also said he would scrap Petro\u2019s \u2018Total Peace\u2019 policy of negotiating with armed criminal organizations and instead use military force to bend rebels into submission.<\/p>\n

In the ZOCIUT, multiple ex-combatants described their fear of what might happen to them under the new government \u2013\u00a0from arrest warrants to an assault on the camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a fear, an apprehension about the new president, because all he says is that he doesn\u2019t want peace \u2013 that all he wants is, in other words, is war,\u201d said Claudia Hern\u00e1ndez, another ex-combatant who asked to use a pseudonym.<\/p>\n

Villa hopes that with this letter, the president-elect can see that he and his comrades have made an effort to support an end to the armed conflict.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course one thinks about what is going to happen\u2026 but with [de la Espriella] coming in, he needs to see that we are supporting peace and we want peace and we want him to support us to continue this process,\u201d said the ex-combatant.<\/p>\n

Armando Novoa, head of the government\u2019s peace delegation in Putumayo, argued that the 99 inhabitants of the ZOCIUT are protected both by the Colombian constitution and international humanitarian law.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would reasonably hope that the president\u2019s words are not merely empty rhetoric, but that his actions are consistent with his constitutional mandate,\u201d Novoa told Latin America Reports.<\/p>\n

But he also acknowledged the high level of uncertainty the demobilized fighters must wrestle with ahead of de la Espriella\u2019s inauguration.<\/p>\n

Now, the 99 ex-fighters sit in civilian clothes waiting for the new president to decide their fate.<\/p>\n

Despite de la Espriella\u2019s harsh rhetoric, they maintain hope that they can return to a normal life and avoid a return to arms.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still hopeful that things will work out and that everything will turn out okay,\u201d said Hern\u00e1ndez. \u201cI don\u2019t want to go back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Featured image description: Ex-combatants at the ZOCIUT in Putumayo. <\/p>\n

Featured image credit: Euan Wallace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"La Hormiga, Colombia \u2013\u00a0Demobilized fighters from the Comandos de la Frontera (CDF) guerrilla group made a public plea…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":983317,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[394617,1582,276,12575,2961,224,5337,151365],"class_list":["post-983316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-armed-conflict","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-colombia","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-peace-process"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=983316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/983317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=983316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=983316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=983316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}