To salvage his faltering “Total Peace” agenda, Colombian President Gustavo Petro exchanged hats with former paramilitary warlord Salvatore Mancuso during a public event on Friday. The bizarre gesture, meant to symbolize peace and reconciliation, occurred at a high-profile land restitution event in Montería, Córdoba, where 8,430 hectares of land were handed over to peasant families, victims of Colombia’s long history of violence.
Mancuso, a commander within the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), handed Petro a traditional sombrero vueltiao – a move intended as a gesture of unity. In return, Petro gave Mancuso his hat, a symbolic exchange suggesting a newfound partnership between the two former foes. However, for many, the gesture was less of a moment of reconciliation and more of a controversial maneuver by Petro to reinforce his peace initiative. Critics have labeled it a slap in the face to the victims of paramilitary violence, questioning the sincerity and effectiveness of Petro’s approach to national peacebuilding.
While Mancuso took the stage to apologize for his past atrocities, including land dispossession and human rights abuses and reiterated his commitment to victim reparations, the event stirred strong emotions. “In war, there are no winners; we are all losers,” Mancuso said, asking for forgiveness from those who suffered under his orders. Yet the optics of the event – particularly the exchange of hats – left many uneasy, feeling that Petro’s “Total Peace” agenda had abandoned the reparative justice the victims of Colombia’s conflict are demanding.
The controversy surrounding the event was quickly overshadowed by a brutal weekend of violence, which left over 14 people dead across the country. Despite Petro’s efforts to push his peace plan forward, the wave of killings underscored the stark reality of on-going rural violence and forced displacement.
Between Saturday and Sunday, four separate massacres were reported in the departments of Norte de Santander, Santander, and Valle del Cauca, bringing the total number of massacres in 2024 to 54, according to the Institute for Development and Peace Studies (Indepaz). Illegal armed groups, including dissidents from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla, the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla, Gulf Clan and other criminal organizations, operate in these department.
In Norte de Santander, two separate massacres claimed six lives. On Saturday, three men were found dead on a sports field in the rural district of Aratoque, near Playa de Belén. Local authorities suspect that the killings were the result of territorial disputes between the ELN and FARC dissidents, who are vying for control of strategic drug trafficking routes in the Catatumbo region. Hours later, three more bodies were discovered in the nearby municipality of Ábrego. The three men had been shot and left abandoned in an open field, and authorities are still working to identify the victims.
Santander and Valle del Cauca
In the municipality of Cimitarra, Santander, a particularly brutal attack took the lives of three minors, aged 12, 15, and 16, in the early hours of Saturday morning. Eight armed men reportedly stormed their home, shooting the children while they slept. The mother of two of the victims was also assaulted during the attack. Authorities believe the killings were tied to the ongoing conflict between local criminal groups, including the ELN and the paramilitary AGC, who are competing for control of the region.
Meanwhile, in Valle del Cauca, three more people – a woman and two men – were killed on Saturday night in a rural area near La Victoria. Armed men entered the Arrayanes neighborhood and shot the victims at close range, adding to the toll of a weekend that has been described as one of the most violent this year.
The violence that erupted over the weekend throws into sharp relief the growing criticism of Petro’s “Total Peace” initiative. While the president has sought to engage with former combatants like Mancuso and initiate peace talks with over six illegal armed groups, including ELN guerrilla, the continued bloodshed underscores the weakening of Colombia’s armed forces. Mancuso, now ensconced as a peace facilitator, urged Petro to consider establishing a peace table for victims’ reparations and reconciliation.
“Without peace, there can be no reparations,” Mancuso emphasized. Yet the very presence of Mancuso – a figure responsible for countless human rights abuses – at a government-sponsored peace event has raised questions about the sincerity of Petro’s motives to appease former arch-enemies.
For many Colombians, the sight of Petro exchanging hats with Mancuso was disturbing. Opposition leaders claim that such gestures gloss over the real and ongoing violence that paramilitary groups have inflicted on the country’s most vulnerable populations. On Monday, the rash of violence continued when nine members of Colombian Army were injured during a military operation in the department of Bolívar. The attack with improvised explosives killed the First Division’s landmine sniffing dog “Kathy”. Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo condemned the attack, stating on “X” that “violence should not extinguish hope or the commitment to continue working for a country at peace, where life is always protected and respected”.
