Senator Iván Cepeda poses for a portrait in the congress of the republic in Bogotá, Colombia, on November 16, 2022.Diego Cuevas
A month ago, alias Antonio Medina, a small man with more than 20 years of forest and guerrilla work behind him, had the plan to sow the border with the dead.
“The idea is to retake Arauca, put some 300 deaths before December.
Now he touched us ”.
The FARC guerrilla who did not accept the peace process and took up arms again, terrorized the population with his words, in an audio that passed from phone to phone.
This Tuesday he changed his mind and recorded a video.
In the middle of an insurgent hymn that talks about building the path of peace and makes his words almost inaudible, the criminal is heard talking about "international humanitarian law" and stopping the war.
Yesterday he wanted hundreds dead, but not today.
"Accepting our mistakes requires greatness," he explains.
02:03
Alias Antonio Medina lifts the order to murder 300 people in Arauca
The contradictory messages of Antonio Medina function as an example of the unprecedented and complex moment that Colombia is experiencing.
The country is getting to know its first left-wing president, who has launched a series of reforms whose ultimate goal is to pacify the entire territory.
Gustavo Petro has set himself the challenge of ending all the violence that Colombia has suffered for decades.
From the ELN guerrilla, to the drug traffickers, the FARC dissidents or the gangs.
The insurgent leader of Arauca, in his message, addressed the Government to request his mediation in a truce between his group and the ELN.
The idea is to stop a war that began in January in the border region and that so far this year has totaled 299 homicides, 47 kidnappings, and nearly 19,100 victims of displacement, disappearance, or confinement.
Senator Iván Cepeda, the president's right-hand man on several key issues, including the search for that total peace, welcomed Medina's movement: “All humanitarian action is welcome.
In consultation with the Peace Commissioner, we will give our answer soon.”
The Government has launched its peace plan with the ELN, the last active guerrilla in the country and in Latin America, but the process that will be followed with characters like Antonio Medina, guerrillas who decided not to accept the agreement with the FARC and continued with the violence.
Nor is there a defined plan on how to negotiate with the drug lords, although at this point they are sometimes the same.
We value this announcement in which the threat against 300 people in Arauca is abandoned and mediation is requested for dialogue between armed groups in the territory.
All humanitarian action is welcome.
In consultation with the @ComisionadoPaz we will give our answer soon.
pic.twitter.com/qk02C6eudw
— Iván Cepeda Castro (@IvanCepedaCast) November 29, 2022
The insurgent acknowledges in his words that his repentance stems from an order from the General Staff of the FARC-EP (today the dissidents), which orders him to retract his recent threat.
The guerrilla dissidents have shown signs of wanting to join Petro's peace proposal, although no progress has yet been made in this process, nor has a decrease in violence in the country been noted.
Iván Márquez, leader of the Second Marquetalia, said in mid-October that they saw the "conditions to risk everything for complete peace with social justice."
Colombia's High Commissioner for Peace, Danilo Rueda, even met with him to explore options.
Márquez became number two of the FARC and participated as chief negotiator of the talks with the Government in Havana for the dismantling of the guerrilla.
Three years after reaching the agreement, he announced that he was taking up arms again.
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