Tatuagem de um ex-combatente agora em uma zona designada na Colômbia sob o plano de ‘paz total’. Foto: Daniela Díaz/The GuardianVer imagem em tela cheiaTatuagem de um ex-combatente agora em uma zona designada na Colômbia sob o plano ‘paz total’.
Fotografia: Daniela Díaz/The Guardian Colômbia Eles depuseram as armas. Agora, ex-guerrilheiros na Colômbia temem o destino sob o novo presidente linha-dura do plano de "paz total" do governo anterior, que levou apenas 99 dos 30.
000 combatentes armados da Colômbia a se desarmarem, mas o novo presidente Abelardo De la Espriella se opõe aos acordos de paz.
Prefira o Guardian no Google Em meados de junho, 99 guerrilheiros foram levados de helicóptero para um pequeno assentamento em uma área rural do sul da Colômbia, onde se alinharam e, um a um, entregaram suas armas a funcionários do governo: rifles, pistolas, metralhadoras e lançadores de granadas.
Eles também tiraram seus pesados coletes táticos, pacotes de campo e uniformes de camuflagem, que foram empilhados em uma fogueira para marcar o início de uma nova vida longe de um conflito armado que custou quase meio milhão de vidas nas últimas seis décadas.
Foi exatamente isso que o plano de “paz total” do ex-presidente Gustavo Petro procurou alcançar: negociar e desarmar todos os grupos criminosos da Colômbia, estimados em quase 30 mil membros.
Mas o grupo de apenas 99 pessoas foi o único a se desarmar, e o fez apenas três dias antes do segundo turno presidencial, que foi vencido pelo advogado milionário de extrema-direita Abelardo de la Espriella, que havia feito campanha com a promessa de acabar com a "paz total" e retornar a uma estratégia completa de prender ou matar criminosos.
Agora, várias semanas depois que o novo presidente assumiu o cargo – e em meio aos esforços para lidar com as consequências do terremoto de magnitude 7,4, já que seu governo já iniciou os ataques aéreos prometidos contra grupos criminosos – os 99 não sabem o que acontecerá com eles.
Ver imagem em tela cheiaNatalia Brínéz, ex-guerrilheira, é uma das 13 mulheres da ZUT. Fotografia: Daniela Díaz/The GuardianOs ex-guerrilheiros estão alojados em edifícios de tijolos bege decorados com desenhos que eles próprios pintaram, incluindo pombas da paz, com um refeitório comunitário onde são servidas três refeições por dia.
Nenhuma arma é permitida dentro e os soldados protegem o ZUT de um perímetro a menos de um quilômetro de distância.
Um ex-combatente construiu um ginásio improvisado com pesos feitos de tubos de metal e latas cheias de cimento e areia, e há um campo de futebol improvisado, mas a maioria deles passa os dias em seus telefones.
De la Espriella disse repetidamente que seu governo não negociará mais acordos de paz e ainda não anunciou o que pretende fazer em relação às pessoas da ZUT.
The president has not responded to requests for comment.
In theory, any arrest warrants against the group are suspended, and they remain under state protection until 25 December, when Petro’s decree establishing the ZUT expires.
But De la Espriella could revoke the decree at any time.
Armando Novoa, the former government official who led peace negotiations with the group, said “the worst-case scenario would be for the new government to close the ZUT, launch a military operation and try to capture or kill them.
That would be a crime against humanity, because these people are unarmed.”.
Between 2 and 4 August, days before De la Espriella’s inauguration, Novoa led journalists including the Guardian through the ZUT. The Office of the High Commissioner for Peace, where he worked, has since been absorbed into the newly created National Security Commission – a move expected to result in more than 200 job losses – and Novoa has resigned.
For now, at least, the ZUT remains in operation and has a small library run by Bríñez, who has a phoenix tattoo on her left shoulder as a symbol of her rebirth away from the armed conflict.
View image in fullscreenNo weapons are allowed inside the ZUT and soldiers guard it from a perimeter less than a mile away. Photograph: Daniela Díaz/The Guardian“The hardest thing for me has been being away from my children,” said Bríñez, who has a seven-year-old daughter and a 10-year-old son and speaks to them on video calls, but will only be able to see them in person once her “transition” is complete, a process that includes vocational training and psychosocial support.
They were also supposed to receive financial support of about £425 a month, which had not yet been paid. In the meantime, some of them were planning to start a chicken-rearing business.
The 99 made up a small part of a group of about 1,000 combatants called Commandos of the Frontier – most of whom remain armed – and are part of the National Coordinator of the Bolivarian Army (CNEB), a former dissident faction of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) with about 2,500 members which controls the border with Ecuador.
The Petro administration said negotiations were also under way with other members of the CNEB, who published an open letter addressed to De la Espriella saying they were willing to continue talks with him.
It is not known whether the president responded.
View image in fullscreenOne of the works of graffiti in the ZUT painted by the former guerrillas. Photograph: Daniela Díaz/The GuardianThe CNEB’s chief “peace negotiator”, Geovany Andrés Rojas, known as “Araña” (Spider), had been in custody since February under a US extradition request for drug trafficking, which Petro had delayed.
Last Wednesday, De la Espriella ordered extradition.
Although such groups emerged in the 1960s as leftwing rebels fighting government abuses and seeking revolution – followed soon afterwards by far-right paramilitary groups – ideology has long since been overtaken for most of them by economic interests, above all drug trafficking (Colombia is the world’s largest producer of cocaine) and illegal mining.
Petro repeatedly tried to negotiate peace agreements with larger groups. The armed factions took advantage of temporary ceasefires to continue expanding, a process that had already begun before he took office.
They also clashed among themselves for control of territory and illicit economies, which many security experts say contributed to a rise in homicides, kidnappings and massacres.
Petro’s administration failed to reduce violence, which instead reached its worst levels in a decade, and to reach the disarmament stage with any of the gangs, apart from the 99 former combatants – who handed over their weapons only on the eve of an election that every poll indicated the government-backed candidate would lose.
Some security experts saw the agreement as rushed.
View image in fullscreenFormer guerrillas in the ZUT have little to do and spend much of their time looking at their phones. Photograph: Daniela Díaz/The Guardian“It was a somewhat irresponsible decision,” said Paula Tobo, a senior researcher at the thinktank Ideas for Peace Foundation, which published an extensive report on why Total Peace failed.
Tobo said the 99 were now in a “legal limbo” because their protection rested on decrees that could be revoked and there is no legal framework for their transition to civilian life.
All of the Petro administration’s proposals to regulate surrenders failed in Congress and, under current law, anyone who has committed crimes such as kidnapping or drug trafficking is not eligible for amnesty.
View image in fullscreenA wristband with the logo of the armed group to which Adrián, 19, belonged. Photograph: Daniela Díaz/The GuardianThe group wrote a letter to De la Espriella reaffirming its “irreversible decision to commit to peace” and inviting him to visit the ZUT.
At the time of publication it had received no response.
The youngest member of the group, a 19-year-old who asked to be identified only as Adrián, said they wanted “to have a home, a family”.
However, he knows what he will do if things do not go according to plan. “Honestly, I’d take up arms again, because we’re keeping our side of the bargain and the government should do the same, shouldn’t it?” he said.
Daniela Díaz travelled to Valle del Guamuez at the invitation of the Colombian government’s former Office of the High Commissioner for Peace.
Em números
- Alcançar: negociar e desarmar todos os grupos criminosos da Colômbia, estimados em quase 30 mil membros
- Mas o grupo de apenas 99 pessoas foi o único a se desarmar, e o fez apenas três di
