BOGOTA, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Colombia's Congress toughened the terms offered to members of illegal armed groups who hand themselves in by passing a bill proposed by President Abelardo De La Espriella that breaks with the "total peace" policy of former president Gustavo Petro.
The legislation bars such people from holding office or entering into peace negotiations. Instead, in exchange for reduced sentences, they must meet a series of more stringent conditions, from identifying fellow members to surrendering
assets.
The Senate approved the bill with 57 votes in favor versus 24 against, while the House of Representatives backed it by 95 votes to 10 in sessions that ended late on Tuesday.
The initiative is one of the first legislative victories for the right-wing president, who during his election campaign promised to end peace negotiations with leftist guerrillas and criminal gangs and deploy the military against such groups.
De La Espriella's government has argued that Petro's peace negotiations, which included the suspension of arrest warrants and ceasefires, allowed armed groups to expand their ranks and hold over strategic areas for drug trafficking and illegal mining.
Towards the end of his term in office, Petro acknowledged that his plan for "total peace" was not fully achieved, but pointed to the reduction in homicides across the country.
According to the Ministry of Defense, the number of members of illegal armed groups in Colombia grew from 15,120 at the end of 2022 to approximately 28,802 in July 2026.
Under the bill, members of illegal armed groups must lay down their weapons, identify their members, hand over recruited and kidnapped minors, contribute to the search for missing people, surrender assets and provide information about their political ties and corruption networks.
In exchange, sentences can be reduced by up to 50%, or 30% for commanders. Leaders cannot receive sentences of less than 10 years.
The legislation, which now goes to De La Espriella to be signed into law, does not suspend arrest warrants, extradition or law enforcement operations.
Petro, Colombia's first leftist president and a former member of the M-19 guerrilla group, restarted peace talks with the National Liberation Army at the end of 2022 as part of his broader efforts to usher in total peace and end the country's six-decade conflict, which has killed more than 450,000 people.
However, Petro was unable to deliver on his pledge because the talks produced few tangible results.
(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
