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LatinNews Daily - 23 August 2018

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Colombia’s Farc puts forward first proposed bill

Development: On 22 August, legislators from Fuerza Revolucionaria del Común, the political party made up of former members of Colombia’s demobilised Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) guerrilla group, presented a bill proposing differential treatment for small-scale farmers who cultivate illegal crops.

Significance: This is the first bill put forward by the Farc political party since it gained representation in the national congress in this year’s legislative election as per the peace deal signed with the Farc in 2016. A condition of the peace agreement brokered by former president Juan Manuel Santos (2010-2018) with the Farc was that they would be allowed to take part in national politics to help shape the implementation of the peace deal itself. The bill is the first attempt by the Farc political party to this end.

  • The bill, which is backed by the ‘bloc for peace and life’ congressional bloc comprising legislators from six political parties, including this year’s defeated presidential candidate Gustavo Petro, proposes differential treatment for small-scale farmers who cultivate coca and other illegal crops. It also exonerates from all criminal charges those farmers who have shown themselves willing to substitute their illegal crops, and prioritises a focus on women in a state of poverty, and ethnic groups.
  • The bill was proposed in response to what the Farc party described in a tweet as the insistence by the new right-wing Centro Democrático (CD) government led by President Iván Duque on resorting “to the forced eradication [of crops] as their principal strategy for fighting the drugs trade”. Small-scale farmers often have no alternative than to turn to the cultivation of illegal crops for economic survival, and are considered the most vulnerable link in the chain of drug production.
  • Colombia’s newly appointed defence minister, Guillermo Botero, said in his first speech to the armed forces on 14 August that he would firmly fight the drug trade at all levels, and described coca crops as “a breeding ground for new violence”.

Looking Ahead: The bill for differential treatment is in line with one of the points laid out in the peace agreement, which President Duque has sworn to revise. Should the bill be approved by the legislature, this will be seen as a victory for those who support the original agreement signed by Santos.

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