Interior Minister Juan Fernando Cristo made this remark after presenting a strategy to achieve these objectives during the technical session held at the Constitutional Court (CC) to follow up on the security guarantees for the demobilized members of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP).

The official affirmed that 25 special sessions for protecting peace signatories have been developed under this administration to improve the coordination with the Ombudsman’s Office and make changes in the functioning of the entities that deal with the security crisis in the territories and the protection of ex-combatants.

“We propose to reduce the number of entities from 20 to three and work in eight prioritized macro-regions where there are more murders and threats against signatories and social leaders. We have already made progress with pilot plans in northern Cauca and southern Bolivar,” the interior minister said.

The Institute for Development and Peace Studies (INDEPAZ) reported that in this year alone, at least nine peace signatories have been assassinated and 15 social leaders have also been victims of assassination.

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