By Luis Jaime Acosta
BOGOTA, Dec 12 (Reuters) - The top leaders of Colombia’s Clan del Golfo crime gang, the country’s largest illegal armed group, would definitely serve prison time under a possible deal with the government, the government's chief negotiator said on Friday, adding that officials are seeking to make progress at talks “irreversible” before a new administration takes office next year.
Talks between the group and the government of leftist President Gustavo Petro are part of his embattled
plan to bring peace to the country after six decades of armed conflict. His term ends in August 2026.
Although Petro’s government initially floated the idea of alternative sentences for leaders from the Clan - which in recent years began to refer to itself as the Gaitanist Army of Colombia - discussions at negotiations in Qatar have focused on prison terms, negotiator Alvaro Jiménez told Reuters in an interview.
“One aspect we have discussed very precisely throughout this preliminary stage and now in formal sessions ... is that there will be prison,” Jiménez said. “The only thing we can discuss are the conditions and locations, but there will be prison. How much, what length? That’s not up to us — it’s up to the judiciary and any transitional justice systems that may apply as the process evolves ... It’s clear: prison.”
A deal that includes incarceration would differ from previous peace accords with armed groups in Colombia — including the former FARC guerrillas and far-right paramilitary squads — which set reparations sentences of a maximum of eight years for commanders who admitted responsibility for crimes including massacres, disappearances and sexual violence.
Jiménez, who like Petro is a former member of the M-19 guerrilla group, said the talks aim to disarm and demobilize about 9,000 members of the Clan, which operates in some 130 municipalities across five northern provinces.
No bilateral ceasefire has been agreed, he said, but arrest and extradition orders for top commanders will be suspended as progress is made.
Last week the two sides made a deal to set up three temporary zones to gather fighters starting on March 1.
The government wants to ensure state presence in areas controlled by the Clan through social investment and coca crop substitution and to prevent other criminal organizations from moving in after a possible demobilization, Jiménez said.
Other government efforts to secure disputed territories have faced significant challenges.
Qatar, Spain, Norway and Switzerland are mediating the talks, and Colombia has invited the United States and United Kingdom to participate, despite recent diplomatic frictions between Petro and President Donald Trump’s administration over anti-narcotics policy, Jiménez said. Neither country has yet decided whether to join, he added.
(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Editing by Julia Symmes Cobb and Daniel Wallis)
