The FARC, Colombia’s main guerrilla group, began the process of disarmament, an essential point of the peace agreement signed with the government to end half a century of confrontation.
Historic news for Colombians,”
tweeted President Juan Manuel Santos hours before the disarmament of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) began in different areas throughout the country, where they are preparing for their reintegration into society.
FARC leader Rodrigo Londoño (“Timochenko”) also celebrated on Twitter the fulfillment of what was agreed as
a necessary condition to achieve peace with social justice”
and said that the guerrilla is responding with enthusiasm.
The FARC, raised against the Colombian State in 1964 after a peasant revolt, had almost 7,000 supporters in the 26 agreed sites.
The peace agreement, signed on November 24th after four years of negotiations in Cuba, stablishes that the rebels must abandon their weapons within 180 days from December 1st, or “D-Day,” in a process supervised by the United Nations.
According to the agreed timetable, the collection of weapons is done sequentially in three phases: in D+90 30% is delivered, in D+120, the other 30%, and in D+150, the remaining 40%, to finish on day D+180.
But before the first phase, previous steps had to be taken: weapons registration, destruction of unstable weapons (explosives, mines) and storage of long weapons.
This was delayed due to logistical problems in the guerrilla grouping operation, which should have been completed on December 31st and it was only completed on February 18th.
Even so, the parties agreed to start the process on Wednesday, without changing the limit of 180 days, and announced that they will work with the UN to establish a new delivery date of the first 30% of the weaponry.