Ex-FARC fighters fear Colombia peace deal rollback under new president

The brief

Context

Colombia's 2016 peace agreement between the government of Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC, once Latin America's largest left-wing guerrilla group, ended more than five decades of armed conflict and created a transitional justice framework plus a reincorporation programme for demobilized fighters. In Putumayo, a coca-growing region with trafficking routes to Brazil and Ecuador, nearly 100 ex-FARC fighters and their families run the Comuccom cooperative on municipal land at La Granja de Paz. New President Abelardo de la Espriella, who replaced Gustavo Petro on Aug. 7 and is an open critic of the accord, has intensified military operations, ended talks with armed groups and proposed deep cuts to peace institutions. Ex-combatants fear a rollback that would leave them in limbo amid renewed expansion of armed factions.

Key facts

• Comuccom (Cooperativa Multiactiva Comunitaria del Comun) comprises nearly 100 former FARC fighters and their families, running fishponds, a plant nursery, an apiary and a daycare in Puerto Guzman, Putumayo.
• Puerto Guzman municipality loaned the land to the cooperative in 2019 under a reincorporation programme created by the 2016 peace agreement; each ex-combatant received about $2,400 in reincorporation funds.
• At least 84 people died in confrontations between security forces and armed groups in August, the highest monthly toll since ACLED began collecting Colombia data in 2018.
• Another 24 people, including three minors, died in an operation in Guaviare this month, prompting a judge to order suspension of bombings where minors may be present.
• Almost 500 former FARC members have been killed since 2016, including 46 in Putumayo alone.
• The Agency for Reincorporation and Normalization (ARN), which monitors more than 10,000 ex-combatants, faces a 37 percent cut in the 2027 budget; its 2026 funding is already frozen.
• Putumayo had more than 44,000 hectares of coca as of 2024; Colombia produces an estimated 70 percent of the world's cocaine supply.
• Ex-combatants receive a monthly stipend of about $600 tied to individual reincorporation progress and administered by the ARN.

Timeline

1. Early 1980sThe left-wing Patriotic Union (UP) emerges from peace negotiations between the FARC and the Colombian government.
2. 1986-1990After UP's strong showing in regional and local elections, the government allied with paramilitaries to kill more than 6,000 UP members, supporters and accused sympathizers.
3. Early 2000sPresident Alvaro Uribe oversees a military offensive against the FARC; he was later accused of war crimes and of sponsoring militias.
4. Nov. 24, 2016President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC leader Timoleon Jimenez sign the peace agreement at the Colon Theater in Bogota (second signing).
5. 2017The FARC demobilizes; future Comuccom members settle in La Carmelita, a government-designated transition zone in Putumayo.
6. 2018-2022Implementation of the peace agreement slows considerably under President Ivan Duque.
7. 2019Puerto Guzman's municipal council approves the land loan for La Granja de Paz, backed by then-mayor Rodrigo Rivera Ramirez.
8. 2021Attackers storm the home of former combatant Maria A. and shoot her husband dead.
9. 2022Comuccom founder Jorge Santofimio Yepes is killed, presumably by a FARC dissident faction; four others including children are injured. Petro's Total Peace talks begin.
10. March 24, 2024A member of the Carlos Patino Front, a FARC dissident group, is photographed patrolling coca crops in Micay Canyon.

Who has a stake

• Comuccom cooperative members — Nearly 100 ex-FARC fighters and families whose homes, fishponds, apiary and daycare on loaned land depend on continued reincorporation support and security.
• President Abelardo de la Espriella — Critic of the 2016 accord; pursuing militarized security, coca eradication and up to 40 percent cuts in state spending.
• Agency for Reincorporation and Normalization (ARN) — Monitors over 10,000 ex-combatants and pays their roughly $600 monthly stipends; faces a 37 percent cut and frozen 2026 funds.
• FARC dissident groups and armed factions — Expanding in Putumayo's coca and trafficking corridors; recruit or threaten ex-combatants who refuse to join.
• Coca farmers, including ex-combatants — Dependent on more than 44,000 hectares of coca in Putumayo; forced eradication without alternatives risks confrontation.
• Transitional justice tribunal created by the accord — Faces threatened funding cuts; hundreds of ex-combatants await final decisions before its mandate expires in 2033.
• Former President Gustavo Petro — His Total Peace initiative's talks, of which only those with the Border Commandos had tangible results, have been terminated.
• International donors (UN, EU) — Funded cooperative projects; their investment in reincorporation is at risk if state support collapses.

Why it matters

Colombia's accord is a global reference point for negotiated ends to long insurgencies, and its unravelling would test whether demobilized fighters can be safely reintegrated. With nearly 500 ex-FARC members already killed, budget cuts and a return to militarized eradication risk pushing former combatants back to armed groups and deepening the cocaine economy. The government is legally bound to implement the agreement until 2030, making the clash between legal obligation and political will the central question.