SPEECH BY THE HIGH COMMISSIONER OF PEACE, LUIS CARLOS RESTREPO, DURING THE REGULAR SESSION OF THE PERMANENT COUNCIL OF THE OAS.

WASHINGTON, AUGUST 5, 2004

Madam President of the Permanent Council, Mr. Secretary General, honorable Ambassadors, I am grateful to you for this opportunity to present a very brief summary of the efforts toward peace that have been made by the Colombian government. And I would also like to express my thanks to Ambassador Serpa, for his generous introduction before this Council.

As you all know, Colombia has been torn by violence for many years. At the time of President Alvaro Uribe's inauguration, on August 7, 2002, twenty-five percent of the country's Mayors were not able to exercise their office from their territory, and 170 towns had no police presence or coverage by the Armed Forces. The threat to democracy was evident. Today, two years later, all the Mayors and Governors exercise their office from their territory, and Police forces protect all the towns in the country.

Even though the illegal armed groups are not, at this time, a threat to the central government, they continue to be a destabilizing factor for local governments. That is why the government persists in its Democratic Security Policy, which in no way rules out the possibility of a negotiated solution.

The national government proposes advancing simultaneously along two paths: that of Democratic Security and that of a negotiated solution with the illegal armed groups. Both paths have an identical purpose: To protect the basic rights of Colombians, to strengthen political pluralism, and to make democracy viable.

The only demand that we make on the illegal armed groups in order to commence a negotiation process with them is a declaration of a cease in hostilities. That is to say, a public and open expression of willingness to abandon terrorist methods. To stop assassinating defenseless citizens, to stop kidnapping, to stop killing, to stop practicing extortion. By naming this condition, the government has demonstrated its willingness to patiently advance toward peace processes.

The motto of the President is: "urgency for a cease in hostilities, patience for demobilization and disarming". This offer is open to all groups. Not only the self defense groups, but also the guerrilla groups.

Since the beginning of this year, we have the accompaniment of the OAS Mission in the Colombian peace process. Allow me to say to you that it is the most serious and organized attempt by the international community that has been made in this country to accompany the national government's peace efforts.

The clarity of the Mission, the clarity of its purpose, helps us to properly channel the joint efforts of the national government and the international community.

As you all are well aware, the Mission is engaged in three fields of action:

1. Verification of the cease in hostilities, which helps us to perfect this decision made by the illegal armed groups, as a requirement to move ahead in a peace process.

2. The accompaniment of demobilization processes, both individual and in groups. To date in this administration, five thousand individual demobilizations of members of illegal armed groups have been produced, the majority of them from the FARC, and many of those are minors who are victims of the conflict. The OAS Mission makes it possible for the international community to support not only these individual mobilizations, but also the group demobilizations that could result from a peace agreement.

3. The accompaniment of the OAS with the communities that have suffered the rigors of the violence.

In Colombia we need to set in motion a great political and cultural education, so that communities that have lived alongside the illegal armed groups for many years can relearn the basics of institutionalism and democracy. It is worth highlighting, within the clarity of the Mission's purposes, that it is clearly defined that we are dealing with an accompaniment of the government and its institutions, in its efforts to create a climate for peace. This distances us from possible mistakes that could be committed if it were to be understood that the international community could or should establish direct dialogues with the illegal armed groups.

We believe that would not be desirable. What is important is to accompany the government it its peace efforts, and to leave the work of negotiation and rapprochement with these groups directly in the hands of the executive branch.

In the same way that the government's peace proposals are open to all the illegal armed groups, the OAS Mission, in its design, structure, and purpose, is open to accompanying all the peace processes that may be advanced with those groups.

At this time we are open to a peace process with the self defense groups. These groups seriously threaten local governability. They dispute for the monopoly of justice and arms with the State. Based on the fear of guerrilla action felt by many citizens, they have developed private security structures that mimic the justice system, but is nothing else than vengeance, deepening the hatred and the differences, and putting in danger the unity of the Republic.

It is important to correct an error that exists: it is often believed, when the name 'paramilitary groups' is used that these groups are an appendage of the State. Nothing could be more wrong. These groups have acquired their own dynamic. They interfere with government action, and are opposed to it. They have their own agenda and are a serious threat to security and sovereignty.

It has been important to begin a peace process with these groups, since the prior peace process engaged in with the guerrillas was blocked, in a practical sense, by actions of the self defense groups.

During the previous administration, it was clear that, within a few weeks after the process was begun with the FARC, the negotiating table was paralyzed by violent actions by the self defense groups. And the sabotage by those groups was even clearer when advancements were made in the peace process with the ELN. It can therefore be understood why it is important to stay open to this scenario, in order to give security and viability to future negotiation processes with the guerrilla groups which, historically, have demanded the dismantling of the self defense groups as a condition for negotiating.

So far we have signed five agreements wit the self defense groups, which give a clear orientation to the process. The first agreement was July 15, 2003. The latest agreement was on May 13, 2004.

The first agreement, on July 15, 2003, called "The Santa Fe de Ralito Agreement for peace in Colombia", established the objectives of the process as: the recovery of the monopoly of force by the State, the demobilization of all AUC members, their reinsertion in civilian life, and the responsibility of the government to provide security to the communities in the zones where these groups have operated. Also, this agreement established a timetable for progressive demobilization, beginning in 2003 and coming to a completion before the year 2005.

The latest agreement, signed May 13, 2004, established a temporary Location Zone for the leaders of the self defense groups. This zone was established by applying internal legislation, known in Colombia as Law 782, which provides a general framework for negotiations with illegal armed groups. This Law allows, for a time defined and established by the executive branch, for the members of the illegal armed groups who are involved in negotiations to remain in specific zones of the national territory, without being arrested.

The Zone agreed to has an area of 360 square kilometers. It is located completely in a rural region, and does not represent any threat to national security. The Zone is under complete control of the Police and Armed Forces. A large-scale program for institutional recovery is currently being developed, and that is where the leaders of these self defense groups are staying. The so-called Negotiating Chief of Staff. While they remain in the Zone they have promised to not commit crimes, to completely respect the Rule of Law, to maintain military control of their men, and to be responsible for what their men do in the rest of the nation.

The main purposes of the Zone are: to perfect a cease in hostilities, to define a timetable for concentrations and demobilizations, and make the signed agreements operative. It is also thought that the Zone should serve to facilitate national and international dialogue with these groups.

So far the Zone has been successful. Since it was begun we have seen a historical reduction of homicides attributed to the members of the fronts whose leaders are in the Zone. It must be remembered that, from the very beginning of the process, there has been a significant decrease in violent action attributable to the self defense groups, 44% in 2003 and an additional 42% in 2004.

Nevertheless, since the start-up of the Location Zone 45 days ago, the tendency is even sharper over the accumulated reduction. We have gained an additional decrease of 76%. Since the Zone began we have had zero massacres, which is also a significant achievement.

To date, as a result of the agreements, 1,042 members of the self defense groups have demobilized. Eight hundred and seventy-four of them have been in urban regions, and the rest in rural regions. The urban demobilization corresponds to the Cacique Nutibara Block that operated in the city of Medellín. This demobilization has led to further indexes that demonstrate success. At this time, 92% of those who have demobilized are engaged in productive activity or training. Year to date, and concurrent with demobilization, the rate of homicides in Medellín has decreased by 52%, effectively contributing to living together in peace.

The rural demobilization took place in the Department of Cauca, with the groups called the self defense groups of Cajibío. These are peasant self defense groups that, after completely demobilizing, have become involved in productive projects. That region is under the complete control of the Police and Armed Forces. There have been no incidents, even though the communities feared a guerrilla attack once the groups were demobilized. Social and infrastructure works have been initiated that are important for the region.

The OAS Mission of Support to the Peace Process has received significant economic support from the government. We recently dedicated, in the national budget, a million dollars for it to move ahead with its labor. The Mission, as pointed out by Mr. Caramagna, carries out its work by installing new offices, and has a very important role in the Location Zone of Tierralta-Córdoba. There it has a permanent office, and there it participates actively in all the work relative to verification, so that the Zone will not affect the rights of the citizens that inhabit the region.

Without a doubt, the Mission deserves the greatest of political, technical, and financial support. On the part of the government we are enormously grateful to the Organization of American States, for putting this mechanism into action.

We believe that there is much that can be improved. In the area of verification, undoubtedly we must make progress, in such a way that there may be an increasingly greater social control over these illegal armed groups.

In the productive field we are also interested in having the OAS Mission support a proposal to generate 20 thousand jobs destined for those who have demobilized. As far as the accompaniment of communities, we believe that putting mechanisms of accompaniment and education for democracy into action is of greatest importance.

Madam President, honorable Ambassadors: the purpose of the Colombian government is clear. We want a society that is less violent and more pluralist. We want a society that fully respects human rights, that fully respects differences. To achieve that, we must definitively defeat the scourge of violence. With your decisive support, we are convinced that we are going to achieve that.

I thank you for this. I thank Mr. Sergio Caramagna, director of the Mission, for the great work that you have done. And many thanks to the Ambassadors and countries that have explicitly expressed solidarity and support to our government in its peace efforts.