Nine former FARC members publicly assumed responsibility for crimes in northern Cauca and southern Valle del Cauca during a hearing in Cali. The event is part of Case 05 of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) and aims to clarify the truth of the armed conflict. Victims and ethnic authorities joined a harmonization ceremony before the statements.
The hearing took place in Cali on November 27, 2025, bringing together victims, ethnic authorities, and transitional justice representatives. It began with a harmonization ceremony led by black, indigenous, and peasant authorities. In front of a mandala made with fruits and seeds such as pineapples, bananas, coconuts, oranges, and corn, they sought permission from nature and entrusted the encounter in pursuit of peace, justice, and truth. The auditorium was decorated with photographs of victims of homicides, forced disappearances, and antipersonnel mines.
The former members, from the Jacobo Arenas and Gabriel Galvis mobile columns, accepted responsibility for attacks on municipalities, use of antipersonnel mines, and territorial impacts. According to the JEP, the conflict in this subregion had a deep ethnic and territorial dimension, altering self-governments, fracturing traditional economies, and affecting ancestral territories with material, spiritual, and community damages that persist.
Magistrate Raúl Sánchez stated that the JEP identified a pattern in the armed actions: consolidating territorial and social control through guerrilla takeovers and attacks on the Public Force and banking institutions. Between 1993 and 2015, 288 confrontations were recorded in the area, with Toribío the most affected municipality (65 actions), followed by Corinto (60) and Caloto (56). The year 2010 was the most critical with 32 incidents, and the period from 2002 to 2010 marked the greatest impact on civilians, with deaths, serious injuries, and mobility restrictions. Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities were particularly affected by these violence dynamics, now being clarified in transitional justice.