The Colombian government is tracking FARC assets throughout the world to be distributed to victims of the armed conflict, provided the current peace talks reach a successful agreement.
According to newspaper El Tiempo, only 30% of the FARC fortune actually lies in Colombia, while the majority is in European and American countries.
The government estimates that Colombia’s largest rebel group FARC has an annual revenue of approximately $1.2 billion, which is reported to have come mostly from drug trafficking and then from investments in real estate.
Authorities are keen to avoid another repeat of problems that occurred during the demobilization of more than 31,000 paramilitaries between 2003 and 2006 under the government of former president Alvaro Uribe when victims of the conflicts were not compensated fairly.
On this occassion the government failed to calculate all assets of the paramilitaries and thus funds and assets were not distributed correctly.
Peace negotiations between the FARC and Colombia’s government are set to begin October 8 in the Norwegian capital Oslo. These will be the first peace talks in search of ending the country’s 48-year armed conflict since attempts failed in 2002.
