COLOMBIA · JUSTICE
Key Facts
- Who Colombia’s peace tribunal, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), charged 11 former FARC rebel commanders.
- Best known Rodrigo Londoño, alias Timochenko, the FARC’s last top commander, and Pastor Alape are among them.
- The scale The tribunal counts 733 victims and 54 missing people across ten Colombian departments.
- What is next The 11 must accept or reject the charges by Tuesday 8 December 2026.
- Power Index Colombia ranks 6th of 14 in The Rio Times Latin America Power Index, with 51.9 points (October 2026 edition).
Colombia’s peace tribunal has charged 11 former commanders of the FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia rebel army, with war crimes and crimes against humanity. The charges, dated Tuesday 3 November 2026, cover killings, bombings and disappearances, including a 1996 bombing and a 2004 massacre.
For US readers, the case tests whether the 2016 peace accord can still deliver justice for victims in one of Washington’s closest Latin American partners. It also shows how far Colombia’s transitional justice has moved from granting pardons to naming individual commanders.
Who Is Charged and by Whom
The charges come from the Truth Recognition Chamber of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, known as the JEP. This is the tribunal created by the 2016 accord to judge the worst crimes of Colombia’s conflict, and it handles these charges under what it calls Case 10, which covers crimes outside the earlier cases.
The FARC was the country’s largest rebel army before it signed the accord. Among the 11 are Rodrigo Londoño, known as Timochenko, and Pastor Lisandro Alape Lascarro, known as Pastor Alape, both former members of the FARC’s top command, called the secretariat.
The other nine are Erasmo Traslaviña Benavides, Pedro Trujillo Hernández, Jairo Reinaldo Cala Suárez, Abelardo Caicedo Colorado, Osmany Landero Fajardo, Gilberto de Jesús Giraldo David, Luis Alejandro Cuadras Solórzano, Uriel Antonio Oviedo Aldana and Héctor Enrique Hernández López. Five of the 11 led the group’s Magdalena Medio bloc, a unit in central Colombia, and six led its Caribbean bloc on the northern coast.
What the Tribunal Says Happened
The JEP documents crimes in ten departments, the country’s regional states: Santander, Norte de Santander, Bolívar, Cesar, La Guajira, Magdalena, Atlántico, Sucre, Boyacá and Antioquia. It lists 733 victims and 54 people who disappeared.
Two attacks stand out. In 1996 in Chalán, in Sucre, rebels used a donkey loaded with about 50 kilograms of explosives, and 11 police officers died; in 2004 at the La Duquesa farm in Tibú, in Norte de Santander, 34 farm workers were killed.
The tribunal also charges forced displacement, attacks on civilians and on protected sites, and sexual violence. These crimes cannot be covered by amnesty under the 2016 accord, which is why they fall to the JEP.
What Happens Next
The 11 have until Tuesday 8 December 2026 to accept responsibility or reject the charges. Those who accept can receive a so-called own sanction, a sentence of restricted freedom with reparative work instead of ordinary prison.
The tribunal showed what that means in September 2025, when it gave seven members of the FARC’s last secretariat, its top leadership body, the maximum own sanction of eight years for kidnapping. The 11 now charged could face a similar path if they confess.
What It Means for You
Investors and travellers in Colombia will not feel this ruling directly. Its weight is political: the accord ended a war of more than five decades, and its legitimacy rests on showing that senior commanders answer for their crimes.
A confession by Timochenko and Pastor Alape would strengthen the accord ahead of future elections, while a refusal would feed critics who call the tribunal too lenient or too slow. The same tribunal charged nine other ex-commanders on 29 October, and our guide to Colombia’s key players explains who holds power today.
What Is Not Known
It is not known how many of the 11 will accept the charges, or whether any will ask for more time. The tribunal has not said what sanction it would propose if they do.
The charge documents also do not settle each commander’s personal role in each attack, which the next phase must test. The JEP has not announced a date for any hearing.
More: Colombia news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is Colombia’s JEP?
It is the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, the tribunal created by the 2016 peace accord. It judges the gravest crimes of the conflict, including those of the FARC rebels and the army.
Who Are the 11 Commanders Charged?
They include Rodrigo Londoño, known as Timochenko, and Pastor Lisandro Alape Lascarro. Five led the Magdalena Medio bloc and six the Caribbean bloc of the FARC.
What Are the Charges?
The JEP charges war crimes and crimes against humanity, including killings, torture, forced displacement, sexual violence and forced disappearance. Such crimes cannot be pardoned under the accord.
What Happens After the Charges?
The 11 have until Tuesday 8 December 2026 to accept or reject them. Those who accept can receive a sentence of restricted freedom with reparative work instead of ordinary prison.
Sources: Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), Truth Recognition Chamber, Case 10 charging decision, 3 November 2026; JEP, sentence on kidnapping against the last FARC secretariat, September 2025.
Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief · Editorial standards · Report an error