Colombia’s largest guerrilla group, the FARC, stuck to its promise of a 21-day ceasefire during last month’s presidential elections, according to reports by two separate conflict analysis groups.
Reports of violence attributed to the FARC were absent in this year’s electoral ceasefire, a drastic reduction from other election years.
There were no fatalities or injuries, no reports of kidnapping, mine-laying, bombings, nor recruitment during the unilateral ceasefire in June, according to the Resource Center for Conflict Analysis (CERAC).
The CERAC report does not acknowledge a bombing that took place June 25 in Bogota, as responsibility for the attack has not been confirmed, though the “package bombs” contained FARC propaganda pamphlets.
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The national Foundation for Peace and Reconciliation counted only one breach of the truce in the southern state of Caqueta, giving the FARC a 97% success rate in the last electoral round.
According to CERAC, an international organization that collects extensive data on violence associated with armed conflicts, this successful ceasefire represents “a progressive realization of unilateral truces by FARC, evidencing greater cohesion and control.”
Since the peace process between the Colombian government and the FARC began in November 2012, the guerrilla group has declared four unilateral ceasefires.
During the first two truces, consisting of a two-month period around Christmas 2012 and a one-month period in December 2013, CERAC recorded the deaths of two civilians and five soldiers while three civilians and four soldiers were wounded.
During the last two ceasefires, held around the first and second round of presidential elections this year, there were no recorded victims of the guerrilla group.
In addition, units of the FARC that had previously disobeyed their commanders’ truce orders, complied in the electoral ceasefire.
However, Colombia’s second largest rebel group, the ELN, along with neo-paramilitaries and other organized crime groups substantially increased their violent actions during the ceasefire, reported CERAC.
Sources
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Farc culmina con balance positivo segunda tregua del año (Fundación Paz y Reconciliación)
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Cumplimiento completo de la tregua de las FARC durante la segunda vuelta presidencial (Centro de Recursos para el Análysis de Conflictos)
