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Oaxaca of Juárez, 21 of Juarez. Eight former commanders of the FARC's demobilized guerrillas took their seats in the Colombian Congress on Friday, in a historic act as part of the peace agreement and despite the protest voices of a large sector of the South American country
The former rebels will be in power under the government of President-elect Iván Duque, who will take office on 7 August. Among its campaign projects, it is planned to promote tax reforms and the pension system. in November 2016 to end an armed conflict of more than half a century.
Duque, a 41-year-old economics lawyer, seeks to prevent demobilized guerrillas accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity from justice before taking political office
Under the terms of the peace agreement that required four years of negotiations in Cuba, the Fuerza Alternativ a Revolucionaria del Común, the nascent political party stemming from the insurgency and having kept the same acronym, has five seats in the Senate and five seats in the House of Representatives until 2026.
"Here they are – for the first time – five senators and five representatives of the Joint Revolutionary Force, born out of the demobilization and disarmament of the FARC", has said outgoing President Juan Manuel Santos, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end the war.FARC Congressmen: Now that they have laid down their arms now that ;he They have agreed to contribute to the truth and to benefit from transitional justice, now that they have sworn to respect our Constitution and the norms and principles of our Republic. Welcome to this temple of democracy! ", Said in his last speech as head of state before the Congress.
Although more than 13 thousand members of the FARC, including some 7,000 fighters, handed over their weapons to the United Nations and he There has been a noticeable reduction in violence and attacks in the country of 50 million inhabitants, a large sector of conservative Colombian society opposes seeing former rebel commanders in Congress
A DIVIDED COUNTRY
Colombia is divided between those who support the arrival of the FARC and the more conservative sectors that want to see ex-combatants behind bars for having participated in a conflict that has caused some 220,000 deaths and millions of displaced.
One of the FARC's absent leaders who had been named a congressman was Iván Márquez, who did not protest against the arrest of his rebellious comrade Jesús Santrich and changes that in their co ncept, have betrayed and disfigured the peace agreement.
Santrich, who remains in a prison accused of conspiracy to export 1 0 tons of cocaine to the United States, a country that asks for extradition, has also not taken possession. The FARC do not report immediately if Márquez and Santrich will be replaced.
Although Duque wants to make changes to the peace agreement, he promised not to destroy it and analysts warned that substantial changes would be difficult. Congress of the Pact
Although the party of the Democratic Center Duque, headed by the former president Álvaro Uribe, has 51 of the 280 seats of the Congress, it will have to make alliances with other movements to obtain the majority guaranteeing the approval of the reforms.
Uribe executed during his eight years of government a strong military offensive that weakened the FARC, decisive to bring them to the negotiating table. The presence of former rebels in Congress promises to create tension with the Democratic Center and Uribe, whose hatred for guerrilla warfare was born after their father was killed in a failed kidnapping.
The FARC announced that they would be part of a left-wing coalition with the Green Party, Humana Colombia, Polo Democratico and the natives, which brings together about 45 congressmen.
So far, at least 1,200 FARC members have declared themselves dissenting, linked to drug trafficking and accused of
Santos has asked the elected president and Congress to defend the agreement of peace and to advance its implementation.
"Take care of the peace that is born, take care of it, defend it, because it is good the most precious that any nation can have. Take care of the peace so that it becomes strong, so that it bears fruit, because Colombia deserves to live in peace, "he concluded
EL FINANCIERO
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