The Colombian government recently put a new Bill to Congress that would enable peace talks with armed groups to be completed in the near future. The proposed law is called the ‘Law of Submission’ because it deals with how armed groups can become subject to justice in exchange for information and dissolution.
The Total Peace Law of 2022 foresaw dialogue with all the armed groups active in Colombia with the intention of ending the violence endemic to Colombian society. Colombia’s Congress passed the law noting that it required an additional regulation that would control talks with ‘non-political armed groups’ such as the Clan del Golfo cartel.
In 2023, President Gustavo Petro’s government proposed a Bill that would do this, but Congress failed to discuss it. It was not brought up again until now because some figures within the government believed that it would be better to see if the ordinary justice system might work.
However, this approach has got them nowhere. While the government is currently in talks with a series of organised armed groups, in several cases they cannot be concluded as it is unclear how the law will be applied to members of the armed groups. The government is unable to offer any certainty on this because the relevant legal framework does not yet exist.
This is why the government has now proposed the new ‘Law of Submission’ to Congress. The law would allow for maximum penalties of five-eight years of imprisonment for the ‘maximum authorities’ of the armed groups, and sentences of two-five years for rank-and-file members. Somewhat controversially, it would also allow members to keep 12 per cent of their illicit gains. It would also enable sentence reductions for those imprisoned during the 2019-2021 social protests against the then-government of Iván Duque, as well as members of some smaller armed groups.
While the initiative has come under criticism from a wide range of figures, including the High Commissioner for Peace and former president Juan Manuel Santos, the reality is that such agreements are not new for Colombia. Several past governments reached deals with criminal armed groups, with the Betancur, Gaviria and Barco governments making deals with the Medellin Cartel in the 1980s, and the Uribe government reaching a ‘Justice and Peace’ deal with paramilitaries in the 2000s, which many Colombians today bitterly joke brought about neither justice nor peace.
The current initiative is no doubt imperfect, while, for example, it would do well to be more specific on how existing institutions, such as the Special Investigation Unit of the Attorney General’s Office, can ensure effective action against paramilitary structures that are still active in many regions. Yet the main point is that without such a framework, the talks with organised groups cannot be finalised, and Total Peace will remain out of reach. It must be hoped that the members of Congress will look beyond these imperfections to see the urgent national need for the ‘Law of Submission’.
Unfortunately, it is more likely that legislators will be influenced by the looming elections next year, and that Congress will therefore fail to pass the proposed law. This would mean that the finalisation of peace talks will have to wait to be dealt with (or not) by the next government. In the meantime, the threat of a renewed outbreak of violence will remain.