🗞️ Colombia’s divorce laws were reformed this week and now allow unilateral divorce, meaning that one party's request is sufficient to end the legal union. The reform bill was passed by huge majority.
Before this reform, divorce proceedings in Colombia were costly and complex, requiring two years of de facto separation, the consent of both parties, or proof of infidelity, cruel treatment, or habitual drug use - rules which contributed in many cases to keeping women trapped in situations of domestic violence.
🗞️ Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance has announced a budget cut of 28.4 trillion pesos for 2025 – 5.6% of the projected budget for the year and equivalent to 6.4 billion US dollars.
Most of these cuts will come from the budgets of the Ministry of Labour, Social Inclusion and Reconciliation, and from the Ministry of Finance itself.
Initially, the ministry had planned to cut the budget by around 20 trillion pesos, but this year’s tax collection target was not met, making further cuts necessary.
🗞️ The government has announced a new roadmap for peace negotiations with the splinter group which last month left the Segunda Marquetalia FARC dissidence led by alias Iván Márquez.
The new structure commanded by Walter Mendoza also announced a new name: the Coordinadora Nacional Ejército Bolivariano. The group contains around 80% of the former members of the Segunda Marquetalia.
A five-point agenda has been established for peace talks: territorial transformation, security in the territories for communities, legal security measures for members of the guerrilla structure, political participation, and guarantees for agreements reached. The territorial transformations in discussion are to be concentrated in Cauca, Nariño, and Popayán.
For more on the fragmentation of the Segunda Marquetalia and two of Colombia’s other major guerrilla groups early this year, check out last week’s Colombia Briefing:
The Colombia Briefing | 25th November
🗞️ The policy of ‘Total Peace’ hit yet another roadblock this week. FARC dissident group Segunda Marquetalia has now splintered, with two major factions breaking away from the leadership of alias Iván Márquez, citing irreconcilable differences.
🗞️ And in historical justice news, outraged was sparked by a congressman’s dismantling of a memorial for the victims of the ‘false positives’ murders – a scandal in which the army murdered thousands of civilians and passed them off as guerrilla fighters in exchange for bonuses and holidays.
Members of the far right including uribista politicians Maria Fernanda Cabal and Miguel Polo Polo have consistently cast doubt on these military crimes, even in the face of evidence from various institutions and confessions from perpetrators. Last month, Polo Polo disrupted and publicly disposed of parts of a memorial created in Bogotá by mothers of victims.
In response, the Special Peace Tribunal (JEP) published the names of 2,000 of the 6,402 registered victims murdered between 2002 and 2008 - a figure likely to be a substantial underestimate. The JEP also sent an open letter to the Centro Democrático, the political party led by Álvaro Uribe during whose Presidency these murders were committed, asking members of the party to stop their denialism regarding state crimes, the perpetration of which has been well-established by the court.
For more on the false positives scandal, see my feature for DG Magazine from earlier this year - available here on my Substack.
'A truth which cried out loud' - first sentences for 'false positives' murders fail to bring justice to families
For Issue #54 of Delayed Gratification magazine, I travelled across Colombia, meeting relatives of those murdered by the state during the civil conflict.
🗞️ And in Bogotá this week, an agreement was reached between the government and a group of 2,000 people from the Embera indigenous community, who arrived and camped in the city for four days.
Members of the Embera community, mostly from the departments of Risaralda and Chocó, have spent months living in a park in central Bogotá on several occasions over the last few years, due to violence and state neglect in their territories.
The National Land Agency coordinated dialogues and an agreement was reached within days, including commitments from various ministries to recognise indigenous authorities, build homes and maintain schools, and ensure access to productive land.
🗞️ Hundreds of Colombians are currently fighting in the war in Sudan - within the ranks of the militia Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Colombian outlet Silla Vacía revealed this week.
Many of the former soldiers were reportedly deceived about where they were being taken and what they would be fighting for - some say they are not being allowed to leave.
They were initially hired by company A4SI (Academy for Security Instruction) supposedly to provide security services to oil infrastructure in the United Arab Emirates. The United Arab Emirates has been accused of arming the RSF, but has denied any involvement.
A retired Colombian army colonel, Álvaro Quijano, is reportedly behind a transnational operation that has sent more than 300 Colombian men to fight in Sudan. Quijano, who lives in Dubai, left the Colombian army in 2007 due to alleged links with the Norte del Valle cartel.
Following a coup in 2021, tension emerged within the military leadership who had taken over Sudan: General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the armed forces and de facto President of Sudan, and deputy General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as "Hemedti", who is also leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a 100,000-strong militia which emerged from the infamous Janjaweed militia.
In April 2023, war broke out between the RSF and the army, both of which groups have been accused of war crimes in the months since. Millions have been displaced and many are facing starvation.
Following the investigation by the Silla Vacía, President Gustavo Petro asked the Foreign Ministry to "find routes for the return" of the Colombian military personnel. Former soldiers of the Colombian army are often found involved in mercenary activities related foreign conflicts or even assassinations, as has been the case in Ukraine, Haiti, and Ecuador in recent years.
🗞️ In other international news, President Gustavo Petro has sent a letter to US President-elect Donald Trump outlining key elements of the relationship between the two countries, highlighting energy transition, migration, and peace - giving his vote of confidence to Trump to end the conflicts in Sudan, Gaza, and Ukraine.
🗞️ Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, meanwhile, has officially invited Petro to his inauguration on the 10th January. However, Colombia has yet to recognise Maduro's re-election to the presidency, following July’s disputed election and subsequent violent political crackdown amid claims by opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez that he in fact won the election, a claim backed by many in the international community, including the US.
🗞️ Maduro has a 90% disapproval rating among Colombians, according to a new Invamer poll about favourability of foreign leaders. El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele leads in popularity with 53% favourability among Colombians, followed by US President Joe Biden with 45%, and US President-elect Donald Trump with 39%.
🗞️ The United Kingdom will be re-imposing visa requirements on Colombian citizens as of this month, following two years of visa-free entry to the country.
This reversal comes in the wake of a significant spike in false asylum applications with fraudulent documents submitted by Colombian citizens.
According to the Colombian Ambassador to the UK, around 1% of those travelling to the country had abused the visa exemption.
The re-imposition of visa requirements will be effective as of the 24th December.
President Gustavo Petro, purportedly according to the principle of reciprocity, then announced the imposition of visa requirements on British citizens wanting to enter Colombia.
The President made the announcement on X, formerly Twitter, last Thursday, but no further details have as yet emerged.
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