The report, entitled “Is there a future if there is truth?”, Was the first installment of a study commissioned by the committee formed as part of a historic 2016 peace deal with left-wing rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc). This agreement officially ended five decades of civil war that killed more than 260,000 people and forced seven million to flee their homes. Other left-wing guerrilla groups, paramilitary aligned with the state, and Colombian security forces contributed to the bloodshed, with atrocities committed on all sides. Violence has affected all sectors of Colombian society – from political and business elites to rural farmers – with drug money funded by guerrillas, paramilitaries and corrupt politicians. The poorest farmers were often forced – either financially or at gunpoint – to grow coca, the main ingredient used to make cocaine. A man screams for information about missing persons during the ceremony to make public the report of the truth committee. Photo: Iván Valencia / AP However, the report found that “the union of US and Colombian interests led to the construction of Plan Colombia,” a massive multibillion-dollar military aid program launched in 2000 that “combined counter-insurgency, counter-terrorism and anti-drug programs in the war on terror. “ The report found that a “substantial change in drug policy” should be implemented and that a “transition to the regulation of drug markets” should follow, with the United States also blamed for financing the Colombian armed forces during the during the war. “We cannot postpone, as we did after millions of victims, the day when ‘peace is a duty and a mandatory right,’ as expressed in our constitution,” said Francisco de Roux, chairman of the truth committee at a ceremony in Bogota. The chairman of the Truth Committee, Francisco de Roux, speaks during the presentation of the final report. Photo: Mario Toro Quintero / LongVisual / Zuma Press Wire / Rex / Shutterstock The report called for major changes to Colombia’s military and police forces, which have received more than $ 8 billion from the United States over the past two decades. He said the army’s goals should be re-evaluated and all human rights violations committed by the security forces should be tried by civil courts instead of falling under the military justice system. Like many victims of the conflict, gengela María Escobar celebrated the release of the exhibition as an opportunity for Colombia to heal after decades of brutal war. Escobar survived sexual violence at the hands of members of the United Colombian Self-Defense Forces (or AUC), a more inactive right-wing paramilitary organization. “It is vital that all Colombians, and the whole world, truly understand what happened during the conflict, which affected so many families and so much of society,” said Escobar, who now runs a women’s advocacy group. conflict. The report also made policy recommendations that could be adopted by the incoming government of President-elect Gustavo Petro, including reforming the armed forces, establishing a ministry of reconciliation and protecting human rights defenders from political violence. Petro – the first leftist to be elected head of state in Colombia – will take office on August 7th. He was a guerrilla fighter with the M-19 militia in his youth and is a staunch supporter of the Farc peace process. Vice President-elect Francia Márquez raises her fist during the ceremony on Tuesday. Photo: Iván Valencia / AP The left-wing firefighter attended the opening ceremony in Bogota on Tuesday morning, along with his elected vice-president, Francia Marquez, who was forced to flee her home during the conflict. She will be the first black woman to fill the position. Outgoing President Iván Duque, a skeptic of the deal who has been accused of delaying its implementation to undermine it, was in Portugal for the United Nations Conference on the Oceans.
