Enlarge image
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is currently attending a NATO Foreign Ministers meeting in Latvia
Photo:
Roman Koksarov / dpa
Around five years after a peace treaty between the Colombian government and the Farc rebels, the US government no longer runs the organization as a terrorist group.
The FARC was formally dissolved, disarmed and no longer existed as a unified organization "that engages in terrorism" or that has the skills and the will to do so, said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday.
The decision does not change the proceedings against former FARC leaders in the US, including drug trafficking, and does not legitimize the previous actions of the group, which also committed crimes against humanity, said Blinken. However, removing the FARC from the terrorist list will enable the US to better support the implementation of the 2016 agreement, including working with previous fighters
Colombia has suffered armed conflict between the armed forces, left-wing guerrilla groups and right-wing paramilitaries for over 50 years.
More than 220,000 people were killed and over six million were displaced within Colombia.
As the largest rebel organization, the FARC signed a peace treaty with the government on November 24, 2016 and laid down their arms.
Ex-fighters should return to civil life, the Farc wanted to stand up as a political party for their goals.
According to the Colombian government, around 5,600 ex-combatants are adhering to the agreement.
But thousands have gone underground again and are fighting in former Farc areas for influence with gangs who are also involved in drug deals.
Farc offshoots and former leaders classified as a terrorist organization
Two offshoots of the FARC and three of their leaders each have been newly classified by the US State Department as terrorist organizations and sanctionsed.
As a consequence of the sanctions, possible property in the USA will be frozen.
In addition, US citizens and companies are largely prohibited from doing business with them in the future.
Foreign financial firms doing business with them can also face sanctions.
Colombia continues to grapple with its civil war past.
With the »Special Justice for Peace« (JEP), the country has an instance that is supposed to come to terms with the crimes of the parties that have been involved in the armed conflict in Colombia for decades.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has therefore closed preliminary investigations into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Colombia after 17 years.
The country's judiciary had made progress and the Colombian authorities were "neither inactive, unwilling or unable" to prosecute possible crimes themselves.
svs / dpa / AFP