Tuesday, October 16, 2018, 8:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
Root Room, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,
1779 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington DC
Two years after Colombia signed a historic peace accord with the FARC, Latin America’s largest guerrilla group, much is uncertain. Amid uneven implementation of the accord, armed and criminal groups—some made up of demobilized guerrillas—are filling territorial vacuums and encroaching on ethnic-minority communities. Murders of independent social leaders have reached epidemic proportions. A new president who had led opposition to the accord seeks to make adjustments. Complex transitional-justice cases are just getting started. Coca cultivation has reached new records. Negotiations with the ELN guerrilla group are stalled. Meanwhile, most messages from the U.S. government are about coca and the crisis in neighboring Venezuela—not consolidation of peace.
WOLA is pleased to bring to Washington a remarkable group of leaders, practitioners, and experts from Colombia. They will dive deeply into these and other current challenges in an all-day event, open to the public.
Light lunch, coffee, and simultaneous translation will be provided. Video will be available at WOLA’s website (wola.org) after the event.
Tentative Agenda
8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Registration and Coffee
9:00 a.m. – 9:15 a.m.
Introductory Remarks
9:15 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Panel: Colombia’s Transitional Justice System
- Julieta Lemaitre Ripoll, president, Chamber for Recognition of Truth, Responsibility, and Determination of Acts and Conducts, Special Jurisdiction for Peace, Bogotá, Colombia
- Patricia Tobón, commissioner, Commission for the Clarification of Truth, Coexistence and Non-Repetition, Bogotá, Colombia
- María Camila Moreno, director, International Center for Transitional Justice, Bogotá, Colombia
- Moderator: Gimena Sanchez-Garzoli, director, Colombia Program, Washington Office on Latin America
11:00 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.
Break
11:15 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Panel: Coca, Eradication, Substitution
- Pedro Arenas, coordinator, Observatory of Crops and Cultivators Declared Illicit, Bogotá, Colombia
- Ariel Ávila, deputy director, Peace and Reconciliation Foundation, Bogotá, Colombia
- Invited Speaker from coca growers’ organization, via Skype, Colombia
- Moderator: Adam Isacson, director, Defense Oversight Program, Washington Office on Latin America
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Lunch
2:00 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.
Panel: Security Dynamics, Peace Accord Implementation, and the ELN
- Claudia López, former Senator and vice-presidential candidate now spokesperson, Anti-Corruption Consultation; program manager, Peace and Reconciliation Foundation, Bogotá, Colombia
- Danilo Rueda, human rights defender, Inter-Ecclesiastical Committee for Justice and Peace, Bogotá, Colombia
- Kyle Johnson, senior analyst for Colombia, International Crisis Group, Bogotá, Colombia
- Moderator: Mariano Aguirre Ernst, peacebuilding senior advisor, Office of the Resident Coordinator, United Nations, Bogotá, Colombia
3:45 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Closing Remarks