On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of State removed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) from its list of foreign terrorist organizations. Since the signing of the Peace Agreement with the Colombian State in 2016, this organization disappeared as a guerrilla force and abandoned the armed struggle. Most of its militants formed the Commons Party (Comunes) to participate in the democratic processes of this South American country.
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"Today’s revocation of FARC’s terrorist designations is a credit to the 2016 Peace Accord with the Colombian government," U.S. State Secretary Anthony Blinked said, explaining that the U.S. continues to consider FARC dissident armed groups as organizations which are engaged "in terrorism at the expense of the Colombian people."
"All property of these armed groups must be blocked and reported to the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Providing material support to them or conspiring to do so is a crime."
In the future, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and other similar organizations may work on peace implementation programs in Colombian regions where former guerrillas are living.
Despite the 2016 Peace Agreement, over 195 human rights defenders have been assassinated so far this year. To counteract this situation, Colombia’s Integral System for Peace launched the Unified Risk Monitoring Mechanism.
This technological tool will monitor 160 media outlets and 372 Twitter accounts of human rights organizations and public institutions to obtain information on these crimes and archive them on the Special Jurisdiction for Human Rights and Peace (JEP) website.
“This initiative will facilitate the precautionary measures implementation and the identification and prosecution of the crimes’ perpetrators. Fulfilling the Peace Agreement’s commitments is not only to end violence but also guarantee justice,” the JEP judge Roberto Vidal considered.