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<h1 id="reader-title">Colombia Rebels Warn 'Dirty War' on
Activists Threatens Peace</h1>
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<p>23 November 2016 <br>
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<p>Colombia’s <a
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Colombias-Cuban-Inspired-Guerrilla-Group-Follows-FARCs-Path-20161026-0021.html"
target="_blank">second largest guerrilla army</a>,
teetering on the brink of formal peace talks with the
government for months, has weighed in on the wave of
violence against social leaders and activists in the
country, warning that a new “dirty war” is holding
Colombia back from its much-awaited era of peace. </p>
<p>The National Liberation Army, also known by its Spanish
acronym ELN, released a statement late Tuesday blasting
“political persecution” targeting human rights defenders
and social movements, particularly the Marcha
Patriotica, a big-tent movement bringing together some
2,000 organizations. </p>
<p>The rebel group criticized the government’s failure to
provide adequate protection to those facing threats of
violence and “false accusations,” pointing to a culture
of stigmatization and violence. </p>
<p>“The extreme right has promoted and implemented terror
against the people and practices — as part of the
dominant regime — a policy of double jeopardy,” reads
the statement. “On one hand they promise security,
property, order and false peace; on the other, they deny
basic political rights, repress mobilization,
criminalize popular protest, stigmatize, displace,
disappear and assassinate.” </p>
<p>The strong words come in response to a surge in
violence against rural leaders and social activists in
recent months despite the historic rapprochement between
government forces and the FARC. The breakthrough deal
has been heralded as bringing an end to the
longest-running war in the Western Hemisphere. But as
blood continues to run in rural communities, the promise
of peace is still distant. </p>
<p>The Marcha Patriotica reports that at least 124 of its
members have been assassinated since it was founded in
2012, the same year peace negotiations kicked off
between the FARC and the government. A <a
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/FARC-Warns-New-Genocide-Targets-Colombias-Social-Movements-20161121-0010.html"
target="_blank">slew of attacks on movement members</a>
have happened in the past week alone, including three
murders and two attempted assassination in the span of
just 48 hours, according to the organization. Leaders
have warned of a resurgence of illegal paramilitary
activity. In the north of Cauca, one of the areas
hardest hit by the armed conflict, community members
have launched an unarmed security watch force called the
Campesino Guard in the face of rising threats, the
online platform Pacifista reported. </p>
<p>The recent attacks mirrior a bloody spate of systematic
violence that <a
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/analysis/Colombias-Patriotic-Union-A-Victim-of-Political-Genocide-20151023-0056.html"
target="_blank">exterminated the left-wing political
party Patriotic Union</a> beginning in the 1980s. The
ELN slammed the spike in violence, saying it “seeks to
limit the construction of a just Colombia in peace for
all” and derail the peace process, aimed at finding
political solutions to more than half a century of armed
conflict. </p>
<p>“We are exploring paths to dialogue for the
construction of a new country,” wrote the ELN, which is
poised to begin a peace process with the government.
“However, we continue to see these strong signs of war,
which will only stopped with pressure exerted by
society.” </p>
<p>The ELN was scheduled to launch formal peace talks with
the government last month in a process paralleling the
peace negotiations with the FARC, but the meeting was
called off by the government at the last minute. The two
sides had differing interpretations of preliminary
agreements on the release of hostages, sparking a
deadlock. </p>
<p>The FARC, which already finalized a historic peace
agreement with the government after four years of talks,
<a
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/FARC-Warns-New-Genocide-Targets-Colombias-Social-Movements-20161121-0010.html"
target="_blank">released a similar statement earlier
this week</a> calling on the government to acknowledge
and address far-right interests in prolonging the war
and the wave of violence it has enabled. </p>
<p>President Juan Manuel Santos said earlier this week
that the government is meeting with local politicians to
address the security situation in high-risk areas. </p>
<p>“We are not going to allow the violent ones to put the
advances of the peace process at risk,” he said during a
press conference Tuesday. </p>
<p>Santos and FARC leader Rodrigo Londoño, alias Timoleon
Jimenez or Timochenko, are scheduled to <a
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/FARC-and-Colombian-Government-to-Sign-New-Peace-Deal-Thursday-20161122-0042.html"
target="_blank">sign a revised version of the peace
deal on Thursday</a> in Bogota. </p>
<p>Colombia’s 52-year civil war has claimed the lives of
some 260,000 people. Paramilitaries are estimated to be
responsible for at least 80 percent of civilian deaths.
</p>
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