Can Colombia’s talks with the Comuneros del Sur help achieve ‘total peace’?

For Gómez-Suárez, if Colombia’s conflict is regional, then the solution should be too.

He draws a contrast between his approach to the Comuneros and the way the Colombian government previously negotiated peace with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), once the largest rebel group in the country.

In 2016, under then-President Juan Manuel Santos, Colombia signed a historic peace deal with the FARC that promised rural reforms and development in exchange for the nationwide demobilisation of the group’s fighters.

The negotiations that led up to the deal, however, were fraught — and some parts of the FARC splintered off into dissident groups rather than agree to the terms.

Gómez-Suárez argued his region-specific approach could be more efficient.

“With previous agreements, namely that with the FARC guerrillas, there was this idea that nothing is set until everything is agreed, which implied that the parties would only begin implementation after a final document was signed,” Gómez-Suárez said.

“Our case is impressive because sometimes we have even implemented before agreements are formally reached.”

Mama Dina, an Indigenous spiritual leader, leads a ceremony as negotiators from the government and the Comuneros del Sur meet [Carlos Saavedra/Al Jazeera]

He pointed out that the Comuneros proposed a unilateral ceasefire even before their first meeting with the government’s delegates, as a sign of good faith.

Since then, the parties have signed two agreements and plan to begin the Comuneros’ transition to civilian life before the next presidential elections in 2026.

The first agreement comprises four points, including a definitive bilateral ceasefire, the gradual destruction of the group’s weapons and a collaborative programme to remove land mines throughout Nariño.

The second establishes safety guarantees for the Red Cross, a humanitarian nonprofit, to operate in the Comuneros’ territory.

In addition, the deal calls for the creation of a team composed of Comuneros members who will be trained and tasked with searching for people who have gone missing during the conflict.

In return, the government has pledged funding for constructing roads, aqueducts, schools and universities in the territory, to help address poverty and infrastructure shortcomings in Nariño.