Former FARC commanders assured in the JEP that they were victims of war crimes by the security forces

Before the Special Jurisdiction for Peace JEP, a report was submitted entitled: 'War crimes and human rights violations committed by the military forces and state security agencies', in which several former FARC leaders such as Victoria Sandino, Joaquín Gómez, Benko Biohó, among others, denounced the alleged war crimes suffered by them by the various military institutions and the State.

Within the document that the JEP has, the former guerrilla commanders reported that they were victims of unlawful methods of war and that they too were victims of state forces. “We are responding to the JEP, but that does not take away the violations of which several of our fellow members of the former FARC were subjected or victims,” said fellow Commons party senator Victoria Sandino.

Another fact that they pointed out was that they and civilians were even victims of sexual crimes. Joaquín Gomez added that they, as a disjointed guerrilla movement, have been taking responsibility for the macro cases they have committed, but that the Colombian state has not done so on the contrary.

“What happens: that lately they have had us with macro cases, which do not let us raise our heads, but the state does not appear at all,” said Joaquín Gómez.

One of the most striking facts of the report is the request that they ask for an investigation into the death of Commander Alfonso Cano, they state that he died in a 'defenseless' state killed by the public forces, they also pointed out former President Santos for responsibility for the operation, since it occurred in 2011 in his government and they say that the only intention of the operation was the loss of the guerrilla commander.

“Alfonso Cano was killed in a defenseless state, and there is also a statement by Juan Manuel Santos himself where he gave the order to kill Cano,” they mentioned before the JEP.

Israel Zúñiga, in the past 'Benkos Biohó', pointed out that what they are doing is an act of recognition for crimes they committed in the past and that he expects the state to do the same: “We are already here in the JEP with our macrocases and our availability that implies our responsibilities, which we have assumed.”

On electoral issues and the former guerrilla group, the Commons party held seats for the peace agreement, but the party burned down in the elections.

Since the signing of the peace agreement at the Teatro Colón, the members of the then FARC leadership received political representativeness through five seats in the Senate and five seats in the House of Representatives, which they will have until 2026, this shares the point of Political Participation that showed the importance of a sector so radical could promote his ideas from the legislative and different scenarios of Colombian politics. However, this does not prevent them from campaigning for more seats, so the members of the Commons Party that meets this political tendency entered the contest on March 13, but failed to pass the threshold and burned.

According to the count published on the website of the National Registry, with 99.37% of the polls counted, the Commons obtained 31,112 votes for the Senate, equivalent to 0.19% of the total, and 21,181 for the House (0.12%). That compared to the votes obtained in 2018 is lower, since four years ago they had an average of 85,000 votes when they were released in politics.

Despite the fact that the votes did not favor the members of the Commons party, Pablo Catatumbo, one of the senators, thanked the support and assured that they will continue to be part of the democratic exercises and mechanisms: “We are infinitely grateful for your support in the electoral contest. Our efforts will continue to focus on building peace, equity and social justice for Colombia. @ComunesCoL @ComunesOcc @ComunesCali,” he wrote on his official Twitter account.

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