How the U.S. terrorist list is getting in the way of peace in Colombia
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9 min
By Samantha Schmidt and Diana Durán
October 23, 2021 at 7:00 a.m. EDT
BOGOTÁ, Colombia — The former rebel commander once sat across a table from Secretary of State John F. Kerry. He signed the historic peace deal that ended Colombia’s 52-year internal conflict. He accepted responsibility for kidnappings and killings by his guerrillas, apologized to the victims, became a member of a legal political party and was elected a senator in the country’s Congress. But to the U.S. government, Pablo Catatumbo is still a terrorist.
Five years after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia turned in its weapons and committed to peace, the United States continues to list the group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Catatumbo and dozens of his former comrades remain “specially designated nationals” — people connected to terrorism, drug trafficking or countries that have been targeted with sanctions by the U.S. Treasury.
As a result, he was forced to step down as legal representative of his political party and to withdraw from a coffee start-up that helps former combatants reintegrate into society.
U.S. officials in Colombia are prohibited from working with former FARC combatants such as Catatumbo — and sometimes, from being in the same room with them.
More:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/10/23/colombia-farc-peace-process/
