The Attorney General of Colombia, Francisco Barbosa, announced on Friday that the institution suspended the arrest warrants against five members of the FARC dissident group known as the Estado Mayor Central, designated as representatives with political status of this armed group, by indication of President Gustavo Petro.
“In the exercise of my legal and constitutional faculties, I have suspended all the arrest warrants that President Gustavo Petro recognized in Resolution 038, as representatives with political status of the armed group calling itself the Central General Staff of the FARC, dissidents of the Peace Agreement of the Havana, and that will integrate the oversight, monitoring and verification mechanism,” said Barbosa.
The decision will benefit Luis Carlos Pinilla Cortez, Renzo Alirio Martínez, Robinson de Jesús González, Ramiro Pinzón Novoa and Walter Freddy Ruiz Montaño.
According to the prosecution, the provision will be in force until June 30, 2023, “and will be communicated to Interpol and other authorities so that it can be complied with immediately.”
Barbosa emphasized that, in this way, he reiterates “the commitment of the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation and the Attorney General of the nation to achieve peace” and, according to what he said, although he believes “in the idea of achieving reconciliation of Colombians”, rejects “the idea of establishing peace processes and not bringing drug traffickers to justice in Colombian territory”.
“We are friends of peace, but we are not friends of drug trafficking,” he added.
The prosecutor’s office had suspended the arrest warrants days ago against 19 leaders of the Central General Staff, a decision that opened the door for the start of a peace negotiation among the dissidences with the Government of President Gustavo Petro, which promotes negotiations with the armed groups to end the armed conflict, through its initiative called “total peace”.
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