Colombia Says Former FARC Rebels Are Failing to Deliver Assets Promised to Victims Under Peace Deal

By Anietie Anii-Bassey

Colombian authorities said Tuesday that the former rebel group known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, has failed to comply with key obligations under the 2016 peace agreement by not fully surrendering gold, land, and other assets meant to compensate victims of the country’s decades-long armed conflict.

In a report released by the Inspector General’s Office, officials said the shortfall in transferred assets has significantly undermined reparations efforts and delayed projects intended to benefit communities devastated by years of violence.

Under the peace accord, FARC leaders committed to turning over their collective wealth so it could be sold or repurposed to fund infrastructure projects, memorials, and truth-and-reconciliation initiatives for victims.

According to the report, the former guerrilla group pledged to hand over 444 kilograms of gold but has so far delivered only 252 kilograms. Authorities also said FARC has transferred just one of the 722 rural properties it had promised, along with only 17% of the cash assets it declared under the agreement.

The peace deal, signed after more than five decades of armed conflict between the Colombian state and the Marxist rebel group, was hailed internationally as a landmark accord.

It allowed thousands of FARC fighters to disarm and reintegrate into civilian life, spared senior commanders from lengthy prison sentences, and enabled the movement to transition into a political party with guaranteed representation in Congress.

In exchange for these concessions, FARC leaders agreed to contribute their assets to a state-managed reparations fund. Those assets were to be transferred to the Society of Special Assets, a government agency tasked with managing seized or surrendered property.

The agency would then liquidate the holdings and direct the proceeds to another state body responsible for delivering reparations to victims.

Former FARC commander José Lisandro Lascarro, widely known by his nom de guerre “Pastor Alape,” defended the group’s record, saying the handover process was conducted under international supervision and that security conditions prevented full compliance. Lascarro said former fighters surrendered all assets that were realistically accessible at the time.

“We handed over all the assets we could before other armed groups moved into the territories we abandoned,” he said in an interview. He argued that the collapse of security in former FARC strongholds made it impossible to recover additional cash that had been buried in remote areas now controlled by rival groups.

Violence has surged in parts of rural Colombia since the group’s disarmament, as smaller armed factions and criminal organizations have fought to fill the power vacuum left behind.

Lascarro said that instability has not only blocked access to hidden cash reserves but also complicated the transfer of land, noting that the FARC never held formal legal titles to many of the rural properties it occupied during the conflict.

The Inspector General’s Office acknowledged the broader challenges facing the reparations process but said the lack of asset transfers remains a critical obstacle.

The agency also raised concerns about funding shortfalls affecting the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, the tribunal created under the peace deal to adjudicate crimes committed during the conflict and order reparations and truth-seeking measures.

The tribunal has issued rulings calling for compensation to victims of kidnappings carried out by the FARC, as well as to victims of extrajudicial killings committed by members of the Colombian military.

However, the Inspector General’s Office warned that the funds currently allocated for these reparations amount to only 17% of what is required to fulfill the tribunal’s mandates.

Officials said that without additional resources and greater compliance from former combatants, the promise of reparations risks falling short for tens of thousands of victims who were central to the moral and political foundation of the peace agreement.

The findings are likely to intensify scrutiny of both the former rebel leadership and the government’s ability to enforce the terms of one of the most consequential peace deals in Colombia’s history.