With a letter addressed to President-elect Gustavo Petro, the criminal group known as the Office joined the project to subjugate the armed groups that the incoming foreign minister, Álvaro Leyva, has announced quite enthusiastically, and which would be the flag of the government and part of the so-called social forgiveness that has caused so much controversy.
With La Oficina mounted on that bus, the Petro government is joined by a structure of thousands of men who dominate crime in Medellín and several municipalities in the department. The point is that this is not an isolated proposal, it is the response to approaches that have come before the presidential campaign, and until now had been a secret.
The letter, which is dated July 28 and has already been received by members of the Historical Pact team, and even known by Leyva himself, says: “After several failed governments and subjugation projects, we hopefully receive your call to construction of a total peace, which will only be possible to the extent that it has the greatness to recognize the urbanization of the war in Colombia”.
EL COLOMBIANO, who received a copy of this letter, was able to corroborate that it is true and has the authorization of Juan Carlos Mesa, alias Tom, who, according to his closest men, holds 85 percent of the armed movement of La Oficina; also from José Leonardo Muñoz Martínez, alias Douglas, the other capo of the organization. And it is that although both are imprisoned, they maintain the criminal command of Medellín and the Valle de Aburrá.
In addition, sources who have had contact with the government and are emissaries of La Oficina assured that the El Mesa and Los Triana gangs were also set up in that negotiation, although the latter with more reluctance.
Now, not everything is as easy as it seems. The capos advocate that they be allowed to “receive” justice, a point that is quite controversial, since for many it is not clear what the conditions of that figure would be.
The letter says on this point that the Government must facilitate “our acceptance of justice, as stipulated in the Havana peace agreement and as proposed by organized civil society. Reception Law that must also include differentiated treatment for the members of our organization that allows us to advance in the transition of our leadership and the strengthening of our capacities, to contribute to breaking the vicious circles of violence, social injustice and militancy of children and youth in armed groups”.
The letter is made public after Leyva himself referred to the intentions of these armed groups: “Submission is one thing and acceptance is another thing, where there are some proposals and they (the criminal gangs) will see if they are accepted or not; it is something different. Then, finally, they accept the end of the dialogue and what is agreed upon. Naturally that is something that is yet to be developed, it is not that there is a score”.
History of social forgiveness
Of course, as the incoming foreign minister tries to imply, it is a figure that is yet to be developed, but that already has a long way to go.
According to what some sources told this newspaper, during campaign times several emissaries of the Historical Pact sought to meet with lawyers and social leaders who had already worked on subjugation projects with gangs. In Medellín, one of them is Sinergia, which is now behind creating a dialogue plan in which the Government, the armed groups, church actors and civil society are present.
Precisely one of the documents with which the Historical Pact tries to put together its proposal for social forgiveness is based on a Synergy approach on the “benefits” of foster care.
That is why it is not strange that Petro and Leyva are actually thinking about foster care, which according to Sinergia “is a political, social and legal figure, which provides instruments to the legal system, encourages the construction of scenarios for peace and has philosophical principles that valued dialectically demonstrate the enormous difference that exists with the Submission (…) Law that must be discussed, convened and attractive to all organizations outside the law, so that other groups that are not part of our organization, wish to benefit to her”.
The proposal is criticized by several sectors, who consider that impunity could be offered to drug traffickers and groups that do not have political status. It is not a new proposal, because in 2015 the same organization was in Havana presenting a document to the negotiators of the government of Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC, who initially thought of bringing the gangs to peace, but the idea it didn’t catch on
And it is that on that occasion the prosecutor Néstor Humberto Martínez got in the way, who warned that the Santos government could not pay that political cost. On that occasion, Sinergia, with the spokesperson for the Medellin combos, spoke of the “social pact” a concept very similar to that of Petro’s social forgiveness.
The so-called Office says in its letter that since 1995 they began a supposed process of attention to the urban armed conflict, “which we institutionalized in 1997, in the Bellavista prison, where we assumed a commitment to the country to contain the advance of violence and seek the development of pacts of respect for life and non-aggression between the groups in confrontation”. For scholars of the conflict, these pacts are nothing more than ways to keep illicit businesses underground.
The point is that for a long time the urban armed groups have been looking for a way to negotiate, but it hasn’t worked out for them, since it is very difficult to buy the idea that they have a political dispute with the State, when it is evident that behind their movements is the narco. And although they are now positive about Gustavo Petro’s positions, it will be difficult for Congress to get involved in a project where there would be an enormous risk of impunity.