The United States will eliminate the FARC from the list of terrorist groups

This Wednesday, November 24, 2021, 5 years have passed since the signing of the peace agreement between the government of the former president and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Juan Manuel Santos, and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc). Following this milestone, a plan for clarifying the truth, prosecuting human rights violations, and repairing the victims has been carried out throughout the national territory.

Likewise, the signing of the peace agreement led the ‘fearsome’ guerrilla group to lay down its arms and will be directed to carry out politics under the so-called Communes political party, which has active participation in the Congress of the Republic. Due to this process, the administration of President Joe Biden notified the United States Congress that will eliminate the FARC from the list of terrorist groups that the State Department draws up.

“The State Department gave Congress notifications about the next actions in relation to the Farc“confirmed the spokesman for the State Department, Ned Price. Likewise, the official asserted that the peace process was a fundamental turning point in making this decision. For his part, The American newspaper The Wall Street Journal indicated that the official announcement by the government could be made this week.

Price also affirmed that the US government will continue working to guarantee the preservation of the achievements that have occurred after the negotiations between the then guerrilla group and the Santos government. “The peace agreement ended five decades of conflict with the FARC and put Colombia on the path to reach a lasting peace and we remain committed to working to preserve it.“added the State Department spokesman.

Reactions to the Biden administration’s decision

The announcement of the Biden administration has not gone down well in all sectors of the United States and Colombia. Republican Senator Jim Risch said that Biden’s decision undermines America’s security interests and puts stability in Colombia at risk. In addition, he noted that This news only serves as a gift for the “criminal regime” of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela.

For his part, the Spanish MEP for the VOX party, Hermann Tertsch, expressed its dissatisfaction with the decision of the United States. “Biden removes the FARC narco-terrorists from the list of terrorist organizations. Although he continues to smuggle tons of cocaine into the US and Europe. Although with Maduro he threatens the democracy of Colombia. And they will say that the Sao Paulo Forum does not have the power of corruption“, the deputy published on social networks.

Finally, the senator of the Democratic Center, Carlos Felipe Mejía, confirmed that the majority of Colombians continue to see the FARC as a dangerous group for the security of the country and concluded by saying that it is still a “drug trafficking” group. “The international community can even say a sung mass about the Farc, for us Colombians continue to be a drug trafficking and terrorist group“, supported the congressman.