2024-01-07 07:01:00
One of the people who has most closely followed the peace talks with the ELN and the FARC dissidents is Monsignor Héctor Fabio Henao. In his role as a delegate of the Church in these peace approaches, Henao highlights that the ceasefires have made it possible to reduce the exposure to violence of vulnerable communities, but he claims that more comprehensive attention is needed from the Colombian State.
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In dialogue with EL COLOMBIANO, this representative of the Church raised his voice in rejection of the practice of kidnapping and proposed that more actions must be implemented that allow citizens to know in detail what is being discussed with these illegal groups, to strengthen the legitimacy that Colombian society gives to these approaches and to total peace.
Monsignor, last year you said that it would be appropriate for the Government to dialogue with several illegal groups at the same time and that is what happened with the ELN and the dissidents. What progress do you highlight?
“It must be recognized that progress has been made and ground has been gained through the ceasefire with the different armed organizations. This ceasefire exercise has helped reduce the impact on communities related to armed confrontations, which we believe is very important. The proposal is to continue making these terminations more robust and qualified, that is, to guarantee doing them with greater coverage and better conditions for the communities.”
Is there any aspect that worries you about the Gustavo Petro government’s total peace policy?
“I think there is an important challenge for total peace and that is to gain much more acceptance, legitimacy, credibility in the general population with respect to the dialogue processes. We must recognize that we must continue working to ensure that the population knows and can become more involved, so that they come closer and have much more knowledge of what they are looking for. And, on the other hand, we must create other structural forms that facilitate dialogue while maintaining, of course, what is the political and judicial structuring of our country, the social rule of law because it is about acting within those conditions established by the Colombian State.”
Tell us a little about the role that the Church plays within these peace dialogues…
“The Church has been asked in both cases, in that of the ELN and the Central General Staff (FARC dissidents), the task of monitoring. We have a very strong contact with the communities, a very close, historical relationship, of a very long time, of a presence accompanying the victims, promoting development, providing spaces for greater citizen participation. For that reason, the voice of the Church has always been raised to draw attention to the need to protect communities and, for this reason, we have a monitoring role.”
And what are done within these monitoring activities?
“We are in charge of establishing bridges between the communities and the verification mechanism, of creating conditions so that people know what it is about and how from the communities the populations can, themselves, begin to follow up and there would come another category which is the oversight. This exercise allows communities to promote, in an organized manner, the ability to contribute and, above all, to do preventive work against termination.”
What is this preventive work like?
“It is a prevention of accidents and incidents in the ceasefire. When the communities detect that there are movements or that there are situations that can lead to confrontations, then this is brought to the attention of the verification mechanism, where the Government, the Military Forces and the representatives of the armed organizations are seated. There these situations are made known to prevent confrontation. A timely alert can prevent incidents from happening and, most importantly, can save lives.”
There has been controversy around these ceasefires because there are confrontations between these illegal groups and the communities tend to be left in the middle. Isn’t that a flaw?
“These ceasefires have been defined by common agreement between the armed organizations and the National Government, and they have very specific topics. What is clear is that the protection of communities has to be the axis, the heart, of these terminations. We have not yet seen on the scene the behavior of two simultaneous ceasefires in very sensitive regions such as Arauca, Cauca and Nariño in particular. We will have to see how they behave, but we see that there is a feeling in many communities that these terminations will have a positive impact.”
Another thorny issue surrounding the cessations has to do with the ELN’s resistance to stop kidnapping. What is the Church’s position on this matter?
“There are very sensitive issues for Colombian society such as kidnapping. The Episcopal Conference has spoken out on several occasions on the matter and there is a recent statement in which it is emphasized that kidnapping is a morally unacceptable activity, with human impacts that cannot be accepted by society.”
Will there be progress in this matter?
“It is an issue that is on the table. One of the groups (the dissidents of alias Iván Mordisco) expressed the desire to stop the kidnappings. The ELN has also announced that it would do so once the ceasefire is renewed, so within a few weeks the suspension of this activity could occur. And we hope that progress will continue along these lines; we believe it is extremely important to guarantee the freedoms and rights of all citizens.”
How do you, as the delegate of the Church at the Table, evaluate the progress with the ELN?
“With the ELN there have been five cycles and each one has had results. That is, each cycle has shown specific products, from reviewing the operational protocols of the Roundtable, having a new agenda, designing the dynamics and humanitarian actions. In addition, the National Participation Committee (CNP) was created, which ensures the participation of Colombian civil society in this peace-building process with that organization.”
The rapprochements with the Gulf Clan are getting colder and colder, what do you think about it?
“All dialogues seem important to us. You have to define the specifics of each dialogue, each approach. That corresponds to the parties, but the Church is willing to lend its good offices where required and, of course, we consider that we still have to make further progress in terms of building through dialogues that have legitimacy as they are serious commitments to the country, with peace, with the communities and with the victims.”
And what do you expect from groups that show this desire for peace?
“Dialogues with credibility imply that organizations really have concrete goals of reducing the level of suffering of the population and seeking in any way to get out of this cycle of violence, to break this cycle of illicit economies to enter a healthy, in the economy that allows the country to advance providing development to the communities. “Through legitimate dialogue, that horizon can be built.”
How is the situation in the Pacific, which is one of the territories affected by the conflict?
“The Pacific continues to be a region of high interest for the Church, especially for humanitarian issues. There has been progress, actions have been agreed with the ELN there in favor of respect for human rights and a year ago there was a humanitarian caravan that visited the Bajo Calima and the San Juan River to compile a compilation of the situations expressed by the communities. as major emergencies in the humanitarian field. “That is a very positive step.”
And what humanitarian problems need to be resolved urgently in that territory?
“There are very complex events because there is an enormous diversity of armed actors in the Pacific and because, undoubtedly, very serious events continue to be recorded there. Last year there were forced displacements and murder of social leaders. The situation tends to become more complex from time to time and that is why the Pacific requires a comprehensive response from the State.”
That is, implement actions beyond peace issues?
“Yes, because when we talk about human rights in the Pacific we have to go beyond the security and physical protection of communities, which is fundamental. But problems related to the entire complexity of human security must also be addressed, that is, food issues, quality of life, education, health, which are issues in which there is a significant lag.”
What has been discussed with the Government to try to address this situation in the Pacific?
“It was agreed that it is very important to develop a comprehensive State presence plan, which is what has been called humanitarian actions and dynamics. The idea is to implement actions that resolve concrete, transitory situations, but that focus a lot on the structural. That is to say, the Pacific urgently requires actions and structural transformations. Because if these structural situations are not addressed, it will be very difficult to prevent humanitarian situations from occurring permanently.”
Has Vice President Francia Márquez’s commitment to this region shown results?
“The vice president has been committed to promoting a specific plan for the Pacific, which we believe is of the greatest importance and relevance, but there is a long way to go. The Pacific continues to be a deeply lagging region and it is a situation that is not going to be resolved in the short term and that is getting worse because very serious illicit activities continue to be recorded there, such as illegal mining, drug trafficking and even, recently, drug trafficking. human beings (migrants)”.
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