Colombia

Paramilitary organization AGC proposed a ceasefire for August, and talks that would allow Colombia’s illegal armed groups to demobilize and disarm. The proposal is the second since 2017, when extradited former AGC commander “Otoniel” said that his organization was willing to surrender to justice. … According to the US Government, the AGC is Colombia’s largest drug trafficking organization.

The international community should lend full support to the incoming administration in Colombia, which has a tremendous opportunity to speed up implementation of the landmark 2016 Peace Agreement that ended more than 50 years of civil war, the top UN official in the country told the Security Council on Thursday. 

Colombian President-elect Gustavo Petro has in mind a series of revolutionary changes to achieve total peace in a country torn by guerrilla wars for over six decades, including the resumption of talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN), it was reported Tuesday.

Colombia’s Truth Commission recommended radical policy changes to prevent a repetition of violence and armed conflict that left the country traumatized. The commission published its long-awaited report on Colombia’s armed conflict and violence between 1958 and 2016 after a thorough study of more than three years.

.

Colombia’s longest-living guerrilla group ELN reiterated that the rebels want to resume peace talks after Sunday’s election victory of President-elect Gustavo Petro.

Leftist Gustavo Petro, a former member of the M-19 guerrilla movement who has vowed profound social and economic change, won Colombia's presidency Sunday, the first progressive to do so in the country's history.

Colombians will choose between construction magnate Rodolfo Hernandez and former guerilla Gustavo Petro in the upcoming presidential election on June 19. But Hernandez had so far refused to debate Petro. The Bogota High Court ruled on Wednesday that the two candidates in Colombia's presidential runoff must hold a debate, to be broadcast on public TV and radio, by Thursday at the latest.

Colombia's next president will be a choice between a former leftist rebel and a man dubbed the country's Trump after Sunday's first round of voting. … Mr Hernández and Mr Petro will face off in the second round on 19 June.

Leftist presidential candidate Gustavo Petro, a former guerrilla fighter promising to "democratize" Colombia's economy, is polling nearly double the support of his closest rival, center-right Federico Gutierrez, and would beat him in a runoff.