The Havana Agreements occurred in the context of a serious armed conflict that lasted half a century in Colombia, as a consequence of a long five-year negotiation process between the guerrilla FARC-EP and the government of President Santos. These negotiations were conducted under the supervision and support of other international countries, and the signing was approved by the United Nations. By means of a constitutional law, the Agreements became requirements for both parties, at least within three presidential legislations. Unfortunately, since then, the agreements that wanted to be the seed of a new Colombia have suffered a tragic trajectory.

1- Integral Rural Reform: integral rural development policies

Despite being the historic hub of the political conflict, the State still does not comply with the agreements even by 10%. Examples: land register, comprehensive acquisition of land for small farmers, agricultural legislation to protect the property of farmers, provision of resources to rural areas, from production to marketing, development programmes with territorial vision in the areas most affected by armed conflict and poverty, where illegal economies have played a relevant role…

2- Political participation: democratic openness for peace-building

Despite the fact that the level of compliance is around 50%, the opposition is still losing its life to politics. Since the signing of the agreements, 90 people have been killed by Fariano and 415 social leaders, among other organizations. Also, the body of the political party FARC, as a consequence of the state repression that Santrich and others experience, lives with legal and personal uncertainty the implementation of agreements.

3- End of conflict: final and bilateral truce and abandonment of arms

The FARC-EP, in compliance with all its commitments (99%), carried out the disarmament agreed, with the mediation of the UN, and the transition of the guerrilla FARC-EP to the political party “Revolutionary Alternative Force of the Common” through a special Constitution Congress. In the meantime, the Government is still failing to comply with the agreements that ensured the transition to civilian life of the former guerrillas, whether in the economic sphere, in health, in education, etc. Above all, however, the aid provided for in the Agreement on the Implementation of Productive Projects by the guerrillas, which, by means of their own resources and taking steps at international level, have succeeded in bringing forward a few survival projects, including CCM, has remained unchanged. And it cannot be forgotten that the government continues to keep some 400 political prisoners captive on the pretext of bureaucracy and against the amnesty decree signed.

4- Solving the problem of illegal drugs

In this section, the government and the guerrillas agreed to the voluntary replacement of illegal agriculture. Thus, instead of acting against farmers through force and fumigations, they agreed to create conditions for the production and marketing of agricultural products and, at the same time, projects to improve the living and growing conditions of the population. But the Government of Colombia, following the political interests and pressures of EE.UU, has returned to the old visions of violent radicalization.

5- Reparation of victims: a comprehensive system of truth, justice, reparation and non-repetition

Highlights: Truth Commission, Search Commission for Missing Persons and Courts “Special Article for Peace”. Through these courts created in the logic of transitional justice, it was agreed that guerrillas, police, military, paramilitaries and civilian people who have been actors in the conflict, by recognizing their responsibilities, would receive non-penal (restorative) penalties. Uribism, aware of the importance of the JEP, has completely deformed what was agreed in Havana through parliamentary procedures, and is dedicated to the campaign of delegitimization, bringing civilians (parapoliticians, broadcasters, transnational companies…) out of the JEP, trying to create a specialized room for the military, etc. Behind all this there are two objectives: on the one hand, to hide the responsibility that Uribism has in the conflict; and on the other, that designating the guerrillas as the only actress in the conflict, the JEP only judges and punishes them.

6- Mechanisms for implementation, verification and ratification

Various committees were agreed to comply with and follow up the Havana Agreements, under the responsibility of the troika (UN, Colombian Government and FARC). With poor results.

In short, we can say that: From the point of view of the FARC-EP, once it was assumed that the negotiating table did not allow the solution of the structural reasons that existed in the roots of the conflict, it accepted a series of profound minimal changes. The intention was to use the Agreements as a working tool, under the support of political legal participation and the alliances of social majorities, to set in motion a transformative citizen movement that changes the causes of the conflict. The objective of the businessmen and state powers represented by the Government of Santos was nothing but the dissolution of the insurgents. In other words, the main armed counterparty against its class privileges, avoiding any possible structural change.

Now, two and a half years after the signing of the Agreements, the “new” Government of Duque continues in absolute fraud, distorting the Agreement as much as possible in parliamentary cunning. Meanwhile, engulfed in the struggle for the implementation of what was agreed in Havana, the broad opposition to the Agreements is wasting all its transformative forces so that only the gains in the negotiations are respected. Pacta Sunt Servanda.

However, from the optimism that characterizes the Colombian rebels, it does not resign itself to the passionate defence of the Agreements. In addition to the strike carried out in recent weeks by 15,000 indigenous people, the broad opposition has called for a National Minga for a new Colombia of the future based on peace, rights and social justice. “We swear to defeat and overcome” Jesus Santrich shouts for the 26th isolation cell. That is the case!

* Iurdan Martitegi Lizaso is a Basque political prisoner. This second article is a continuation of this other.