Total Peace Policy: Between light and shadow: A framework to analyse Colombia’s comprehensive peacebuilding policy
March 2025
Research Paper 34
Kyle Johnson, Conflict Response
Felipe Botero, GI-TOC
Mariana Botero, GI-TOC
Andrés Aponte, GI-TOC
Lina Asprilla, GI-TOC
SOC ACE Project: Negotiating with criminal groups: Colombia’s Total Peace policy
PUBLICATION SUMMARY
Governance by illegal armed groups and criminal actors is a growing problem in Latin America, especially in Colombia. President Gustavo Petro’s “Paz Total” (“Total Peace”) policy seeks to negotiate with all such groups. Contrary to initial expectations, the development of simultaneous negotiations has not progressed as quickly or effectively as anticipated, leading to the unintended consequence of increasing the capacity of armed and criminal groups to govern the territories involved in the Total Peace Process (TPP). This has prompted some think tanks, opinion leaders and experts to argue that the policy is strengthening both rebels and criminals, including enhancing their ability to govern the territories, neighbourhoods and communities where they operate.
This paper explores the argument and demonstrates that this trajectory is not generic: it depends on the armed and criminal actors, the specific areas and the populations involved. Through case studies from three regions, Buenaventura, Arauca and Tumac, where armed and criminal actors of different natures operate, the paper provides evidence that governance models and territorial control vary significantly within distinct hybrid political order contexts. By examining the differences in governance between these three cases, as well as how governance has evolved over time, the paper highlights an understudied aspect of criminal and rebel governance. This comparison explores not only which aspects of life are governed, but also how they are governed.
The research concludes with several key findings:
Criminals and rebels exercise control over different dimensions of life in their areas of influence, a capacity that has been amplified during the implementation of the TPP;
ceasefires have facilitated this process;
hybrid political orders have contributed to this trajectory; and
timing and sequencing of the peace process are crucial.
The paper stresses the importance of considering the on-the-ground effects of initiating negotiations with the rebel and criminal actors who control these territories. By incorporating violence reduction and confidence-building measures into the incipient peace process, the research highlights potential perverse effects that need to be anticipated and mitigated. Additionally, it highlights the importance of breaking the links between criminal and rebel groups and local armed forces or state institutions to undermine criminal and rebel governance. Finally, it suggests that zones of dispute and strategic competition between illegal armed organisations should be treated differently from zones of hegemonic control in terms of public policy
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