Press Releases

Today, a select group of Democrats sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, urging him to remain engaged in the Colombian peace process and continue to provide “credible, creative counsel” so that a final agreement may be achieved without delay.

The letter encourages the Secretary and the U.S. Special Envoy on Colombia to urge all actors to place the “greater good of Colombia above party or point of view,” and  to quickly achieve consensus on a final version of the agreement.

In particular, the letter emphasizes maintaining the negotiation’s focus on victims and expresses regret that new actors to discussions on how to modify the peace accords as a result of the failed October 2nd plebiscite have not undergone the “transformative experience” of the government and guerrilla negotiating teams that occurred from their direct interaction with victims’ delegations.

“Over the past 15 years, I have met with hundreds of victims of the conflict and have been touched by each of their stories. The voices of the victims must continue to be central to discussions on how to modify the accords,” said Congressman McGovern. “It is important that these final adjustments to the accords be made quickly, while the government-FARC ceasefire remains firm.”

Finally, the letter supports the advances made in the existing accords to safeguard the rights of victims, women, Afro-Colombians, Indigenous Peoples and other minorities.

The letter is signed by members of Congress who are viewed as among the most engaged on U.S.-Colombian relations. It was spearheaded by Representatives Jim McGovern, Co-Chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, who has traveled extensively throughout Colombia and is a recognized champion of human rights, development, labor rights and peace in Colombia; Ruben Gallego, the only Colombian-American serving in the U.S. Congress; and Sam Farr, who has been involved with Colombia since the 1960s when he served there as a Peace Corps volunteer.

Joining the letter are House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Eliot Engel and House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Nita Lowey – both of whom allocate and oversee U.S. foreign aid to Colombia – and Ways and Means Ranking Member Sander Levin, who oversees trade relations with Colombia and is a champion of workers and labor rights in Colombia. Other signatories include Representatives Jan Schakowsky, Rosa DeLauro and Mark Pocan, all members of the Congressional Monitoring Group on Colombia, as well as Hank Johnson and John Lewis, long-time advocates for Afro-Colombian rights and achieving a negotiated end to Colombia’s conflict.

Full text of the letter below:

November 2, 2016
The Honorable John F. Kerry
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
Washington, D.C. 20520

Dear Secretary Kerry,

As Members of Congress who have been deeply engaged on U.S.-Colombia relations, we write to commend you for your strong support of the Colombian peace process and for keeping the U.S. Special Envoy on Colombia’s peace process engaged in negotiations to further refine the peace accords as a result of the recent plebiscite.  As you well know, it is important that these final adjustments to the accords be made in a timely manner, while the government-FARC ceasefire remains firm.

We are encouraged by how quickly competing sectors have moved forward a plan to navigate the next steps of defining, revising, and re-negotiating the existing accords. We respectfully urge all parties in this process to maintain the central focus on the needs of victims as expressed and defined by the victims themselves.  Input from victims proved to be a transformative experience for the government and guerrilla negotiating teams.  New actors in this dialogue – and potentially in direct negotiations – have not undergone this same transformative experience nor engaged directly with the scores of victims who formally presented their stories and cases to the negotiators. 

At the same time, understanding how slender the margin that defeated the plebiscite was, we respectfully counsel putting Colombia’s greater good ahead of party or point of view, in the discussions surrounding adjustments to the existing peace accords. The goal should be to broaden consensus in favor of the agreement. We would offer the same advice were the YES campaign to have triumphed by so insubstantial a degree. We recognize that Colombia is working in uncharted territory, but it is important not to tarry in finding agreement and completing a final accord accepted by all parties.  Colombia will find it difficult to achieve its goals as a modern state in the absence of a peace accord and the more inclusive social and economic progress promised through its successful implementation.

Mr. Secretary, we urge you, Special Envoy Aronson and all relevant Administration officials to encourage those at the Colombian negotiating table to safeguard the advances made on behalf of victims, women, Afro-Colombians, Indigenous Peoples and other minorities in the existing peace accords. The chapters and provisions addressing the accords’ impact on these groups appropriately identified and responded to the specific and extreme adverse effects these members of Colombian society suffered during decades of conflict. The negotiators addressed these harms with measures tailored to each group’s specific needs and circumstances, especially in the areas of reconciliation, reparations, restorative justice, political participation and economic development.  Such recognition and measures are both historic and unprecedented, and provide an important model to other nations engaged in conflict resolution.  We believe they are critical to Colombia’s ability to successfully end the conflict and implement a lasting peace.

We admire the strong and capable leadership demonstrated by President Santos in the aftermath of the October 2^nd plebiscite.  We also recognize that all parties and sectors, including the FARC and the proponents of the NO campaign, have expressed a willingness to review in good faith possible changes to the original accords in order to generate a broader consensus in support of the overall accords. We encourage the State Department to remain engaged in providing support and credible, creative counsel so that Colombia may achieve a final peace agreement without delay.

Sincerely,

James P. McGovern (MA)
Eliot L. Engel (NY)
Ruben Gallego (AZ)
Nita M. Lowey (NY)
Sam Farr (CA)
Sander M. Levin (MI)
John Lewis (GA)
Henry C. “Hank” Johnson, Jr. (GA)
Jan Schakowsky (IL)
Rosa L. DeLauro (CT)
Mark Pocan (WI)

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