The statements caused annoyance in victims. Some hostages, such as General Luis Mendieta, affirmed that the FARC was indeed a drug-trafficking guerrilla: “We were witnesses, being with chains and padlocks, traveling through the jungles of Colombia where we saw crops and laboratories”, assured. General Luis Mendieta
“Shameless drug trafficker (…) We reject the claims of this narco-terrorist“, said Lorena Murcia, who was recruited by the guerrillas when she was just a girl.
Finally, the High Commissioner for Peace, Juan Camilo Restrepo, considered Calarcá’s words a “joke”: “It seems like a joke, a hoax, which is what the Colombian people do not want, what they demand is that there be justice, reparation , not repetition, but let the truth exist”.
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It should be remembered that after the signing of the agreement, the FARC was expected to be the main ally in the fight against drugs since they were considered one of the largest drug trafficking networks in the world. For 2012, the UN estimated 309 tons of pure cocaine produced in Colombia. The Insight Crime NGO calculated that two thirds of this drug was controlled by the FARC.
For this reason, victims, politicians and citizens in general are surprised by the ex-FARC congressman’s statements.
