The proposal to create an international multi-donor fund to finance the ELN so that it does not kidnap or extort again, generated a new controversy in Colombia.
One of the people who criticized the initiative is the Attorney General of the Nation, Francisco Barbosa, who rejected the proposal and said that in addition to not having legal support, it would be an incentive for criminality and crime in the country.
Barbosa stated in this regard that “they want to establish, not a subsidy for the ELN to stop committing crimes, but a vaccine against Colombians, so that it can be imposed massively, providing a stimulus for crime in different territories of the country.”
The prosecutor stated that “Colombians deserve not to be vaccinated publicly, before they were vaccinated at least secretly, but we would be vaccinating Colombians by encouraging crime.”
According to the prosecutor, giving resources to an armed group to stop committing crimes would promote the commission of more crimes.
For this reason, he emphasized that “criminal sanctions and the search for security and justice must be used to combat these organizations, otherwise the Constitution would be misrepresented.”
In addition, Barbosa said that he could not “understand those amazing proposals that have been made in recent days, which I hope are not real, that they want to establish, not a subsidy for the ELN to stop committing crimes, but a vaccine against Colombians”.
respect for life
On the other hand, Monsignor Luis José Rueda, president of the Colombian Episcopal Conference, said that “those issues of the finances of these groups have to be finances that respect people’s lives, they have to be finances without kidnapping, they have to be finance without extortion, because otherwise it would be finance that in any case enslaves and victimizes the poorest families in all regions of the country”.
Director of IndepazCamilo González, stated that “it is one thing to seek financing for the management of the truce and another thing is to create a compensation fund for non-kidnapping.”
clarifies
On the other hand, through a communiqué from the Office of the High Commissioner for Peace, the national government indicated that “this issue has not been dealt with in the Peace Dialogues Table with that guerrilla.”
In this sense, it added that “on this matter there is no discussion or agreement between the parties that could be commented on by the Government.”
However, from Germany, where he is planning an official visit, President Gustavo Petro referred to the issue and said that “the possibility of a fund depends on the agreements reached at the negotiating table with this guerrilla, but that for the moment has not been touched on in the discussion”.
The president affirmed that “the multilateral fund is not a construction in the agreements, it is a possibility going forward and depends on the agreements, the peace process with the ELN is progressive, that is why it is called a process, it does not happen at the same moment ”.
The bottom
According to versions delivered by spokespersons for the Casa de Nariño, the objective of the Multidonor Fund to finance the ELN is that countries around the world that are friends of Colombia, especially those of the European Union, which has been a guarantor in the peace process, make financial contributions to the maintenance of the guerrilla group.
So far, the donor countries have not been disclosed or the amount they will deliver.
With this contribution, the ELN is sought to stop activities such as kidnapping and extortion, which are not contemplated in the ceasefire agreed between the illegal group and the Petro government that begins on August 3.
For now, the national government has confirmed that it is seeking resources to finance the peace process with the ELN and what would come once the insurgents return to civilian life.
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