The Catholic charity said Iván Duque Márquez’s first official visit to the UK since he was elected last year is a chance to “save the peace deal” with the country’s largest guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Ulrike Beck, CAFOD’s Colombia Programme Officer, said: “This is a crucial time to address the challenges and rescue the deal.
“When Ivan Duque became president of Colombia last year, the future of the country seemed bright – after five decades of internal armed conflict, a peace agreement was reached in 2016, and although fragile, peace seemed possible.”
However, negotiations with the South American country’s second largest guerrilla group – The National Liberation Army (ELN) – have broken down, shattering hopes of a peace deal with FARC.
Beck added: “The UK has a key role in supporting the peace process, being the pen-holder for the UN resolutions establishing the UN missions to monitor its implementation.
“Over the last year, the humanitarian situation has got worse for people living in rural areas and threats and killings targeting rural community leaders and human rights defenders have increased.
“Since the signing of the peace agreement more than 400 community leaders and other human rights defenders have been killed, many of them local leaders who were key for the implementation of the agreement.
“The UK is Colombia’s…
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