On 24 November, Colombia’s President Iván Duque said he was not formally notified of plans from US President Joe Biden to remove the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) guerrilla group from the US State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organisations.
Analysis:
Removing the Farc from the US list of terrorist organisations is seen by many as a necessary step towards reintegrating former combatants into civilian life. However, any de-listing would likely incite opposition from members of President Duque’s hardline administration, which has been critical of the 2016 peace agreement, and may also trigger right-wing pushback in the US.
- Reports that the Biden administration is seeking to remove the Farc from the terror blacklist first emerged on 22 November. Without directly confirming the reports, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said on 23 November that “the Department of State has provided congress with notifications of upcoming actions we are taking with regard to” the Farc.
- Proponents of removing the Farc from the terror blacklist argue that it would reduce the likelihood of former guerrillas returning to arms. Elizabeth Dickinson, a Colombia analyst at the Brussels-headquartered NGO International Crisis Group, said that “US sanctions have handicapped economic and political reintegration, penalising ex-combatants” by making it difficult for them to open bank accounts or participate in US-sponsored aid projects.
- Speaking alongside United Nations Secretary General António Guterres at an event to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the peace agreement, President Duque yesterday said he “has not been formally notified” of any plan to de-list the Farc, or of other reported plans to add the dissident Farc units Segunda Marquetalia, led by Luciano Marín Arango (‘Iván Márquez’), and the 7th Front, led by Miguel Botache Santillana (‘Gentil Duarte’), to the US blacklist.
- Guterres expressed concern at the continued assassinations of former Farc combatants, which he said are “melting the hopes” for peace. Duque said that this sort of violence is “present in many peace processes,” and said that, of the more than 13,000 ex-guerrillas to demobilise, 254, or 1.4%, had been killed – a lower mortality rate, he said, than that experienced by previously demobilised paramilitary and guerrilla groups in Colombia.
Looking Ahead: Removing the Farc from the terror blacklist would not require the authorisation of the US congress, and is the prerogative of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.