Former FARC rebels get reprieve, families of disappeared get closure

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Sergio Jaramillo with families of disappeared in Villavicencio
Sergio Jaramillo with families of disappeared in Villavicencio

In a sombre ceremony Thursday in the departmental capital of Meta, Villavicencio, Colombia’s High Commissioner of Peace, Sergio Jaramillo met with family members of 29 persons who disappeared during the country’s armed conflict.

The senior negotiator of the peace talks taking place in Havana, Cuba, between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) handed out white roses as the remains of those who disappeared were returned to their families.

Meanwhile, in a unilateral gesture in the country’s capital, the national government pardoned nine rebels serving time in La Picota prison and seven women from El Buen Pastor.
These 16 former FARC combatants were convicted for rebellion and handed-down a reprieve of their sentence as part of an agreement reached with FARC for the successful termination of the half-century long armed conflict and for the reduction of violence in the final stages of the talks.
Those who were pardoned have agreed not to return to the ranks of FARC but rather begin their arduous process of reintegration back into civilian life.
Given their status as former guerrillas and convicts, the government authorized travel to Havana for four of them: Elky Javier Caballero Rodríguez, Carlos Antonio Ochoa Orjuela, Sandra Patricia Rincón and Gloria Alvarez Isaza Mestizo.

These four will join the negotiating table in Havana and work as promotors of the peace process. The rest of pardoned will return to their cities and families with the support of the Colombian Agency for reintegration (ACR).

In order to facilitate their return to civilian life, the ACR has created a transitional program of reinstatement which offers these former rebels all the necessary guarantees.

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