[News]Santos proposes to Duque a meeting with Timochenko

[WilkerCSBD]

On February 20, after months of waiting, the National Vaccination Plan will begin in Colombia. The first phase will be for people 80 years of age or older and for health personnel from the first line of care for covid-19. On the latter, the Ministry of Health issued a warning.

In President Iván Duque's program, Minister Fernando Ruiz reminded the IPS - in charge of delivering the databases - that in the first phase, not only doctors will be vaccinated, but all personnel ...

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Leonardo Botero Fernandez
LEONARDO BOTERO FERNÁNDEZContact
Journalist from the UPB and specialist in Narrative Creation from the Central University (Bogotá). I write.

Santos proposes to Duque a meeting with Timochenko
COLPRENSA ARCHIVE PHOTO
COLPRENSA ARCHIVE PHOTO
 
PEACE AGREEMENT IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PEACE AGREEMENT
COLPRENSA | PUBLISHED 14 HOURS AGO
Former President Juan Manuel Santos responded on Thursday to the letter sent by Rodrigo Londoño, leader of the extinct Farc and today president of the Comunes party, who expressed his concern about the murder of the demobilized members of the extinct guerrilla.

The ex-commander of the Farc asked ex-president Santos to intervene to prevent the murders against former members of the guerrilla from continuing to occur, and to meet with President Iván Duque, to take measures to ...

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TEXT OF THE LETTER FROM THE FORMER PRESIDENT SANTOS
“In answering his last letter, I must confess that he moved me. I share his anguish and his pain over the clearly condemnable and unacceptable death of his former comrades who laid down their arms in good faith. I also share the pain of all the victims of the armed conflict, the pain of the families of our soldiers and police officers and, at this recent juncture, that of the victims of kidnappings who are reliving their dramas with the stories and accusations of the JEP . Regarding the latter, I hope that you recognize your authorship and responsibility to contribute to heal the wounds, and that the JEP continues to do its work with those most responsible for atrocious crimes of all parties involved in the conflict. It is an unprecedented transitional justice process that the world applauds, supports and admires.

Among the multiple failures, gaps and breaches in the implementation of the peace accords, the most worrying, without a doubt, are the assassinations of former FARC guerrillas and social leaders. And it is not the fault of the agreements, as some have wanted to suggest, but of their lack of implementation, which is in charge of the governments of the day. We were fully aware that ending the war with the FARC would not eliminate other sources of violence and, for that very reason, point 3.4 on security guarantees was specifically included. Compliance with this point (or the 13 sub-points that are specified there) would solve the problem, but this requires leadership, coordination capacity and political will.
 

The Government is responsible for the public order and security of all Colombians, among which the ex-guerrillas who are loyally complying with the agreements must be in the front line, due to their vulnerability, along with social leaders, many of whom are killing for promoting the voluntary substitution of illicit crops or the return of land to displaced peasants, or for opposing deforestation or illegal mining. President Duque and his government must listen to the many voices that demand more decisive and effective action to protect them.

The last report on this matter published this week, as dramatic as it is devastating, was that of Human Rights Watch, which joins other demands from important voices such as those of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, those of the Council of Security, those of the British Parliament, those of the European Parliament, those of the Democratic congressmen from Washington, those of Amnesty International, among many others. The new Biden government has already prioritized the implementation of peace and human rights in bilateral relations. And it is very telling that even the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, told President Duque directly last Tuesday on his daily television program that “the comprehensive implementation of the peace agreement is a key tool to address the emergency of the Covid-19. " Nobody, nobody would understand that the Government remained deaf and in a state of denial in the face of this avalanche of criticism and demands for the peace accords to be fulfilled, in particular the issue of security, because there is a danger that Colombia will slip away back to the dire list of outcast countries, with all that this implies, after having managed to get out of that muddy pa

with so much effort and difficulty. The same thing happens on the economic front: if the necessary reforms are not made, we will lose investment grade, with the immense costs that this means. The prestige of people and countries is built in a long time and with a lot of effort, but they are undone very quickly and with great ease.

My commitment to peace is growing every day because every day I learn more and every day I reaffirm that peace among Colombians, among the nations of the world and with nature is the only thing that will allow us to leave a better future for the next generations. . What I said to you in Cuba the first time we shook hands, that my commitment to what we signed would be sacred and until the last day of my existence, it remains more current than ever. And, despite so many setbacks and difficulties, I remain convinced that peace between us is irreversible.

My relations with President Duque are not the best. He has dedicated himself to governing with a rear-view mirror, but a mirror of those that distort the image, of those that make see the skinny fat and the skinny fat, and he has chosen, strangely, not to mention my name. In a kind of Orwellian punishment, or as a condemnation in the style of the ancient gods of Greek mythology, for the president of the republic this humble servant simply does not exist. How curious ... and even funny! For my part, I have tried to remain silent about what this government does or does not do because I do not think that it is in the country 's interest for former presidents to dedicate themselves to beating their successors. And I say this because I suffered it firsthand and it did not do the country any good. What's more, at the junction I made myself available to him. Later, I offered my modest contest to face the catastrophe of the pandemic, I made concrete offers to help Providencia, and through various means and at various times I proposed to the president that he unite Colombians around the implementation of peace, thereby Others are legally and morally obligated, and that I would be the first to do my bit if required. There was never the slightest echo.

I tell you the above because you ask me in your letter to meet with President Duque. It would be the ideal, but I don't have many illusions. I hope to be wrong. I have always believed that when circumstances and the country demand it, we must all put aside our differences, prejudices, partisan positions and other feelings that feed polarization, to work together for higher goals. It is responsible. Peace is undoubtedly one of those goals. I have repeated this on several occasions. So I have no problem having that meeting with the president. I'll do it with pleasure.

A signal from the Palacio de Nariño is enough to proceed to formally request the meeting through the regular channels. It occurs to me that we could be accompanied by two of our negotiators. For my part, it would be Humberto de la Calle, the head of the negotiations, and General Óscar Naranjo, who was in charge of negotiating, together with other members of our Armed Forces, point 3.4, and who knows the most about the guarantees. of security established in the agreement. You would choose yours. The president, as host, would be with whom he determines, of course. We could discuss the implementation of the agreements in general and the issue of security in particular. The UN and guarantors could be invited. Any progress would be a blessing for peace and for the country.

Finally, I refer to what you told the JEP when you acknowledged the murder of Álvaro Gómez: that they had prepared an attack against me and that they did not carry it out for “ethical” reasons. He was not the only one and he would not have been "unethical." I myself imposed the rules of the game, which you accepted: we negotiate in the middle of the war as if there were no war, and we continue in the war as if there were no negotiations. I named it the Rabin doctrine, because that is how this great Israeli prime minister negotiated peace with Arafat, which incidentally cost him his life. I admit that you have always asked for a ceasefire and I refused on the grounds that the dog is not coated twice. I warned them that there would be a ceasefire only when we reached concrete agreements. And I remember specifically telling them that killing me would be part of the rules of the game, and - of course - vice versa. So it would not have been "unethical", but I appreciate the gesture. I was not so magnanimous and that is why I authorized operations against all members of the FARC considered high value targets, including Alfonso Cano. More than thirty of his commanders were captured or discharged. We never had enough intelligence against you, but you would have authorized it. They were the rules of war, that abominable war that we ended in good time. There was an operation against a member of the secretariat who did not