JEP initiated a contempt incident against the National Protection Unit for an alleged lack of guarantees for former combatants

For assigning a vehicle, apparently, defective to the security scheme of a former combatant of the extinct FARC guerrilla and failing to provide him with a solution, despite a guardianship involved, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) initiated an incident of contempt of the director of the National Protection Unit (UNP), Alfonso Campo Martinez.

On La W Radio they said that in the Non-Recognition Section of the JEP they made that decision, since despite the fact that the signatory of the peace agreement must be provided with protective measures, with that car, which it claims is constantly failing, it is at risk.

On the radio, they explained that in the face of the situation the former guerrilla filed a guardianship and since the UNP still does not solve this problem, then the JEP initiated the incident of contempt for which Campos Martínez will have to issue written discharges in a maximum of five days.

In February, the peace court filed a similar request for Pasto Alape, delegate of the Commons Party to the National Council for Reincorporation.

The former member of the late FARC secretariat had denounced flaws in its security scheme and warned of the risk to his life, during a hearing with the Special Jurisdiction for Peace held last November.

At that meeting, the member of the Commons Party presented clear situations in which the security provided to him by the UNP is weakened on several occasions and revealed the poor state of the official vehicles assigned for their movements.

He gave as an example the day he had to travel to La Guajira where he was in the burial of an ex-combatant and carried out other social and economic reintegration activities; and then traveled to Antioquia. “I did the tour without complete protection, because the UNP only approved the movement of a driver with a conventional van.”

He also explained that on some occasions his escorts were sent on flights of other airlines to his own and that on many occasions he had to travel alone or with very few escorts.

This is not the first time that Alape has warned about his safety. During the 2021 National Reincorporation Council, he held the national government responsible in a letter addressed to the Minister of the Interior, Daniel Palacios, for what could happen to him due to the reduction of his security scheme. The letter was sent on January 28, 2021.

“I put on record and held the national government responsible for the risk posed by displacement without the security scheme assigned to me being substantially reduced in its operation,” said the peace signatory.

He insisted that the activities he does respond to the “obligations to the economic and social reintegration actions of the community”. He reaffirmed his commitment to the peace agreement, but said that “the Government fulfills its due as administrator of the State”.

The radio station also argued that the JEP's determinations have to do with the repeated alerts that have been received. “There have been repeated failures in the implementation of the measures that must be given to Mr. Alape Lascarro to guarantee his life and integrity, such as the real validity of his political rights,” the JEP declared.

He said that the responsibility lies not with the scheme but with the government of Iván Duque, since he has made financial adjustments. For Alape, this represents a “limitation on the actions and obligations of the signatories with regard to the implementation of the Agreement”.

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