European Parliament 2014-2019 Ad hoc Delegation to accompany the peace process in Colombia 28.11.2016 MISSION REPORT following the ad hoc delegation to Colombia on 28 September-3 October 2016 Members of the mission: Luis de Grandes Pascual (PPE) Ramón Jáuregui Atondo (S&D) (Leaders of the mission) Agustín Díaz de Mera García Consuegra (PPE) Laima Liucija Andrikienė (PPE) Soraya Post (S&D) Boris Zala (S&D) Nikolay Barekov (ECR) Izaskun Bilbao Barandica (ALDE) Tania González Peñas (GUE/NGL) Ulrike Lunacek (Verts/ALE) CR\1106626EN.docx AP102.145v01-00 EN United in diversity EN Introduction The European Parliament’s delegation stayed in Colombia from Wednesday 28 September to Monday 3 October. This complex mission was planned, organised and implemented in a single week following the decision of the Conference of Presidents on 15 September 2016 to set up an ad hoc Delegation for the Referendum on the Colombian Peace Agreement taking place on 2 October. In the end, 10 Members took part in the delegation’s visit out of the 14 authorized by the Conference of Presidents. The delegation maintained first a set of meetings in Bogotá with the Colombian government, yes and no campaigners together with UN and OAS representatives in charge of the implementation of the peace agreement signed by the Colombian government and FARC on 26 September 2016. The delegation was then split into three groups which went to three representative places (see below) in the long internal armed conflict which has lasted for 52 years: Montes de Maria/Cartagena, Medellín and Ibagué. This allowed the delegation to multiply its political and media impact because at each of the three destinations, meetings were arranged with governors, mayors, NGOs, victims and media. Similarly, some visits took place also during the day of the plebiscite to some polling stations to witness the peaceful development of the vote. A joint evaluation then followed by the whole delegation together with the EU Special Envoy Mr Eamon Gilmore and the EU Ambassador in Colombia. This allowed for an in-depth and joint discussion which resulted in a Declaration by the two Co-Chairs on the outcome of the plebiscite (see Annex III), thus ensuring a coordinated and consistent EU position transmitted afterwards in the joint press conference at the end of the visit. Summary account of meetings Meetings in Bogotá On 28 September, the ad hoc delegation Co-Chair and EuroLat Co-President Mr Ramón Jáuregui met with the President and the Vice-President of the Colombian delegation (Parlandino) to the EuroLat Parliamentary Assembly and a joint press conference was held in the Senate. On 29 September, the rest of the Delegation arrived and a meeting was held with Mr Alvaro Uribe Vélez, former President of Colombia and head of the NO campaign. Mr. Uribe made clear that, should the “no” prevail, such a negative outcome of the Plebiscite would not mean a vote against peace, but rather against certain agreed conditions which should indeed be profoundly revised (transitional justice for FARC Commanders, political representation and a number of jurisdictional / constitutional challenges were mentioned). A working dinner was also held with the EU Ambassador in Colombia, Ms Ana Paula Zacarias, and other Ambassadors of EU States, as well as the EU Special Envoy for the Peace Process in Colombia, Mr Eamon Gilmore. On Friday 30 September, a working breakfast was held with Members of the Congress (Foreign Affairs and Peace Committees) followed by high-level meetings with Ms María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar, Foreign Minister of Colombia, who thanked both the EP and the EU for their longstanding support to the Peace Process; and with Mr Rafael Pardo Rueda, High Counsellor for Post conflict, Human Rights and Security, who advanced the guidelines of some of the 131 projects already planned to implement the Peace Agreement as negotiated in La Habana. The delegation also met with the UN Resident Coordinator in Colombia, the Head of the UN Monitoring and Verification Mission, the UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights, AP102.145v01-00 2/19 CR\1106626EN.docx EN the Director of UN Women and the Head of the Mission MAPP-OEA. On Sunday 2 October, part of the delegation visited polling stations in Bogotá accompanied by Members of the Andean Parliament. In the evening, the whole delegation regrouped in Bogotá to make a joint assessment of its activities in Cartagena, Medellín and Ibagué and the development and outcome of the plebiscite Visit to Montes de Maria / Cartagena The visit to the region of Montes de Maria, which is to the greatest extent situated in the Department of Bolivar, presented special political, social and media interest, since in the Montes de Maria violence provoked no less than 56 massacres, almost four thousand political murders, two hundred thousand displaced persons and general ruin on economic and social levels. The region was ravaged by paramilitary groups from the eighties, and with special intensity since 1997, which responded ruthlessly and with great brutality to the guerrilla activity which began in the early eighties. In the early morning on Saturday 1 October, a working breakfast was held with Padre Rafael Castillo, who was accompanied by the President of the Chamber of Commerce in Cartagena de Indias. Padre Rafael briefly presented the ‘Tercero Laboratorio por la Paz’ (Third Peace Laboratory) project, which is co-financed by the European Union (see Annex IV). The project covers 15 municipalities: seven under guerrilla control and eight under paramilitary groups. Padre Rafael believes that the project offers a bid for life through sustainable intervention and the creation of a social fabric and basic community heritage, which had been destroyed from within by the war, recreating the basic social and regional networks that were present in the region before the conflict. The concept of a ‘peace laboratory’ is based on peace and reconciliation among all involved parties, and it includes women, Afro-Colombians, children, and indigenous peoples. Its objective is to promote a culture where these communities can meet by means of economic, social and democratic development. Padre Rafael highlighted the vital role of the EU in the project, not only in terms of its financial contribution, but also in terms of its technical and moral support and its firm commitment to achieving peace. The President of the Chamber of Commerce drew attention to the total lack of a business base in these communities, which is needed to create jobs. There is an urgent need to empower, before all else, the victims in order to achieve this, for example by using the area’s fertile agricultural land, through sustainable social and environmental development, replanting ruined vegetation, making the most of the three nature parks, and handing over use and control of the area to its inhabitants. This was followed by an exchange of views with the members of the delegation, who paid close attention to the request for supervision of the management of scarce but fruitful resources in an effort to facilitate access to them by means of joint community projects in areas including infrastructure, education and health. A meeting was later held with the mayor of San Juan de Nepomuceno, who outlined the history of violence perpetrated by FARC and by the paramilitary groups in the area, which had a damaging impact on civil society, leaving innumerable victims in its wake and forcing many to leave the area with only the clothes on their backs. The community is now fighting to change the conditions that were conducive to the violence. They are doing this by building infrastructure, schools and health centres as well as by creating decent and stable jobs for young people, who are currently faced with problems such as a high unemployment rate, inadequate or non-existent public healthcare and a shortage of schools. The mayor reiterated the victims’ CR\1106626EN.docx 3/19 AP102.145v01-00 EN sentiment in saying that the aid was not reaching them, and also spoke of the role required of the EU in ensuring the financial aid goes towards building a business base. The European Parliament delegation then met with ‘Narrar para vivir’ (Tell to Live), an organisation set up by women to achieve a reconciliation that can empower women, all of them victims of violence, helping them to acquire skills and make progress through local networks (and with aid from Europe). These women have been threatened and attacked but have not given up the fight to re-build the social fabric that the violence took away and to provide their children with opportunities. Their motto is ‘We are here to live’. This was followed by a visit to a ‘Cooperativa de mujeres artesanas’, an EU-financed cooperative of artisan women. The women presented their projects and expressed their gratitude for the EU’s support in empowering these women, who are the heads of families, their husbands having died or gone missing, and they themselves facing threats and attacks. Members of the delegation also met with local authorities and attended the presentation of a rural farming development project called ‘Proyecto Costa Caribe’ (Caribbean Coast Project), whose purpose is to promote yucca production and its market presence. This project, which is aimed at helping the development of farming in the area, covers seven municipalities that were abandoned by the state, and 10 000 farming families are involved in the project. Visit to Medellín The visit to Medellin, the second most populous city in the country, presented particular political and media interest. Plagued by all sorts of violence for decades, the city has experienced in recent years an extraordinary political, social and economic regeneration. However, opposition to the recently signed peace agreement remained in majority.