Petro Shifted Colombia Toward Human Security and Structural Peace – teleSUR English

An in-depth analysis of his Total Peace policies, the Law 2272, and Cepeda's reform plan.

The search for an end to more than six decades of internal armed conflict in Colombia changed in August 2022. Upon taking office as the country's first leftist president, Gustavo Petro proposed a drastic shift away from his predecessors' traditional security strategies.

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While previous administrations relied heavily on military attrition and an offensive-driven approach known as “Democratic Security,†the new administration introduced the concept of “Human Security.†This framework posits that violence cannot be permanently eradicated through military means alone.

Instead, it argues that stable peace is achievable only by dismantling structural inequality, implementing comprehensive land reform, and providing direct state-backed economic investment in historically excluded rural communities.

This comprehensive analysis delivers an in-depth evaluation of the peace process under the Gustavo Petro administration, tracking the real-world impact of his ‘Total Peace' policies. Furthermore, we examine the strategic proposals of presidential candidate Iván Cepeda, outlining his blueprint to evolve Colombia's security and social justice landscape.

The Legal Framework of Total Peace Law 2272

To provide a firm legal foundation for this ambitious paradigm shift, the Colombian Congress passed, and President Petro sanctioned, Law 2272 in late 2022, widely known as the Total Peace Law. This statute modified and extended Law 418 (1997), a historical legal tool used by previous governments to manage public order, effectively elevating the pursuit of peace into an official, binding policy of the Colombian state.

The primary innovation of Law 2272 was the establishment of a formal, dual-track methodology managed under the supervision of the High Commissioner for Peace. This mechanism allowed the state to engage with completely different types of armed actors simultaneously, avoiding the historical mistake of negotiating with only one faction while others expanded their operations across the country.

The first track of the Total Peace Law governs political negotiations. This pathway is reserved strictly for organized insurgent groups that possess a recognized political status, a defined command structure, and historical ideological roots, such as the ELN and the FARC dissident faction known as the Segunda Marquetalia.

Negotiations on this track are aimed at reaching comprehensive political, social, and economic agreements that could lead to institutional reforms. The second track establishes a socio-judicial framework for submission to justice, formally termed foster care. This pathway is designed specifically for high-impact criminal networks and neo-paramilitary cartels, most notably the Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia (AGC), also known as the Clan del Golfo.

Under this track, the government does not grant political status or negotiate state policies; instead, it offers structured penal reductions and legal incentives strictly in exchange for the verifiable dismantling of criminal structures, the surrender of illicit assets, and the permanent disruption of international trafficking routes.

Beyond regulating negotiations with armed actors, the Total Peace Law introduced significant social milestones aimed at transforming the socio-economic conditions of Colombian youth. A key provision of the law created the Alternative Social Service for Peace.

This initiative allows young citizens, particularly those in vulnerable rural municipalities, to fulfill their constitutional civic duties by participating in environmental protection, community literacy, and rural development programs instead of undergoing mandatory military enlistment.

High Diplomacy and Territorial Realities

The diplomatic track involving the National Liberation Army (ELN) represented a historically significant yet highly volatile component of the Total Peace policy. Bilateral talks initially achieved unprecedented milestones, including a historic, continuous one-year ceasefire that brought a temporary reduction in confrontations between the guerrilla group and state armed forces.

Additionally, the administration successfully established the National Committee for Participation. This mechanism was designed to directly integrate civil society organizations, trade unions, and marginalized rural communities into the peace table, ensuring that the negotiations addressed systemic structural issues rather than functioning merely as an agreement between two armed elites.

Despite these early diplomatic breakthroughs, deep-seated territorial realities and structural disagreements gradually paralyzed the dialogue, culminating in a total suspension of formal talks by the government. A primary catalyst for this breakdown occurred when the ELN initiated a violent offensive in the strategic Catatumbo region in the North Santander department, aiming to consolidate control over smuggling networks and coca-producing territories.

According to data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), this escalation and subsequent clashes with rival groups triggered the forced displacement and confinement of over 64,000 civilians.

Furthermore, a lethal ELN attack using explosives against a military base in Arauca, which resulted in three military fatalities and over 25 wounded, forced the Petro administration to formally suspend the negotiation process due to the group's apparent lack of genuine political will and persistent reliance on kidnapping and extortion.

Applying Total Peace to FARC dissident factions revealed deep internal fragmentation and territorial warfare. The largest umbrella group, the Central General Staff (EMC), was split entirely over the state dialogues.

The government permanently halted ceasefires with the hardline faction under the alias ‘Iván Mordisco' after its fronts launched violent attacks against indigenous communities in Cauca. Conversely, negotiations continued with the breakaway faction led by alias ‘Calarcá Córdoba'.

However, analysts note his fronts often used the truces to expand territorial control. This fragile strategy collapsed into direct warfare between the two dissident rivals, culminating in a May 27, 2026, clash in Guaviare that left at least 50 guerrillas dead. These violent realities highlight the extreme difficulty of implementing local peace pacts while unmapped armed factions fight for dominance over illicit economies.

Iván Cepeda's Blueprint for Deepening the Reform

As the 2026 presidential election approaches, the future of the Total Peace depends significantly on the platform of Senator Iván Cepeda Castro. Elected as the presidential candidate for the leftist Pacto Histórico coalition after winning 65% of the vote in the party's primary, Cepeda is recognized as the principal intellectual architect of the Petro administration's peace policies.

In his official campaign program, titled “Three Revolutions and More Social Investment,†Cepeda addresses the structural limits encountered during Petro's term by proposing a shift in how the state handles security, transitioning away from traditional military metrics toward a model centered on anti-corruption and territorial sovereignty.

Cepeda's platform establishes a clear distinction between the base-level combatants in rural areas and the white-collar financial networks that sustain internal warfare. A central proposal of his program is the creation of a comprehensive National System Against Macrocorruption.

In his campaign addresses across conflict-affected departments like Cauca and Nariño, Cepeda has consistently argued that dismantling the urban banking structures that process drug profits is far more effective at weakening illegal armed networks than engaging in endless rural firefights against low-level recruits.

Furthermore, Cepeda's framework proposes an expansion of rural infrastructure and environmental protections to eliminate the economic necessity of illicit economies. His platform treats access to potable water and land distribution as critical national security priorities, planning to integrate water conservation directly into a broader Agrarian Revolution.

Additionally, Cepeda advocates for making popular civic consultations legally binding on all large-scale mining and energy initiatives, ensuring that local populations maintain veto power over extractive corporate projects that threaten their communal water supplies and environmental stability.

A Comprehensive Balance Sheet of the Progressive Peace Attempt

The balance sheet of Petro's peace strategy highlights a deep tension between structural change and immediate rural insecurity. Opponents focus on ongoing rates of extortion and territorial conflict, arguing that early ceasefires gave criminal factions too much room to expand.

However, supporters point to tangible, human-centered achievements. By focusing on historic state abandonment, the administration utilized the ARN to rehabilitate over 116 kilometers of essential rural roads, directly weakening the economic grip of local drug networks.

Petro leaves a clear precedent that links national security to agrarian reform and infrastructure. As the current electoral cycle concludes, Colombia faces a fundamental fork in the road: returning to traditional militaristic security models or pursuing the complex, structural transformation of its conflict-affected territories.

Sources: teleSUR – Deutsche Welle – El País – The Guardian – Global Affairs – Ministerio del Interior de Colombia – UN News – France 24 – Radio Nacional de Colombia – RTVC

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