A peasant guerrilla without environmental discourse: the lost opportunity of the fArc-ep during the peace talks in Havana

Abstract

This article proposes to contribute to the debate on the relationship between the peace process and deforestation in Colombia. It addresses this issue with a description of the peasant-inspired environmental practices that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People’s Army (Farc-eP) developed in the peripheral departments of the country, favoring the protection of forest cover. It compares this finding with an analysis of the speeches that the Farc-eP produced between 2004 and 2016 to reveal that the insurgent group built its environmental paradigm from a vision anchored in the produc- tivist past of Marxism. Consequently, the article maintains that the Farc-eP remained out of step with environmental movements during the peace talks in Havana. The insurgency then lost a historic opportunity to step out of their “counterpublic” position and contribute to the construction of a “greener” final agreement. The conclusion of the article opens perspectives to safeguard the threatened environmental knowledge of the ex-guerrillas, encouraging their reincorporation to civil life and reforming public policies for the protection of forests in Colombia