Nine years ago, on Nov. 24, 2016, Colombia signed in Havana a Final Agreement with the FARC guerrilla that promised not only the end of one of the hemisphere’s longest-running conflicts, but also a deep commitment to agrarian transformation, justice, reparation, and political participation.
After more than 50 years of low-intensity internal war, the most powerful and oldest guerrilla group in Latin America agreed to demobilize and transform itself into a legal and democratic political movement.
As this ninth anniversary arrives, the balance is mixed: There are notable advances, especially regarding land, but also persistent challenges that fuel doubts about the solidity of this peace, particularly due to the resurgence of violence in some regions, the growing military power of new dissident armed groups, and the expansion of coca crops.
Nine years of the Peace Agreement in Colombia: how implementation is progressing
Perhaps the most visible aspect of progress over these nine years has been related to land. Under the government of Gustavo Petro, there has been a vigorous push for the restitution, formalization, and allocation of plots, which may be seen as the most tangible success of the Agreement.
According to the National Land Agency (ANT), 18,208 hectares have been handed over to peace signatories, distributed across 18 departments of the country. This land is destined, in many cases, for productive projects: Growing coffee, plantain, citrus, or staple crops, activities that strengthen both the local economy and food sovereignty directly from the regions.
Additionally, the state has handled 700,000 hectares for peasants, ethnic communities, conflict victims, and ex-combatants, multiplying by 10 the progress achieved under the two previous governments. In parallel, formalization has been notable: According to the latest official report, more than 1.8 million hectares have been titled, granting legal security to thousands of rural families.
According to a report from the National Planning Directorate as of December 2024, ANT formalized 3,286,416 hectares between small- and medium-sized properties, benefiting 140,806 families, many of them peasants or belonging to ethnic populations. And another official source states that more than 60,000 hectares have been delivered directly to victims of the conflict, marking accelerated growth compared to previous years.
Beyond the figures, the land recovered shows that the first point of the Agreement — comprehensive rural reform — remains alive, gaining strength, and, for many, represents the concrete reparation of decades of dispossession.
Persistent shadows: from paralysis to imbalance
But not everything has been positive in these nine years. Although the push has been significantly stronger under Petro, implementation has not occurred without friction or criticism, after overcoming four years of total paralysis during the presidency of Ivan Duque (2018–2022), a government that never believed in the Agreement and acted accordingly.
On one hand, there is a recurring criticism about the geographic distribution of the benefits: According to independent reports, only around 30% of the allocated land has gone to municipalities prioritized under the Development Programs with a Territorial Approach (PDET), precisely those territories historically most affected by the conflict.
Additionally, the sixth report to Congress details gaps in the land acquisition pathway: Although nearly 1,842,322 hectares were put forward for purchase by the peasant population, only 19.81% of those plots meet the criteria to continue the administrative process. This figure shows that administrative procedures, bureaucracy, and criteria still slow down the actual pace of land delivery under the Agreement.
There is also a structural concern: full restitution is a colossal goal. According to expert estimates, at the current pace, returning all the usurped land could take decades. Various observers have warned of this, demanding not only speed but also institutional capacity to ensure that the land handed over is actually consolidated in productive and secure hands.
Beyond land: What has not been achieved
Agrarian reform cannot carry the full weight of the Agreement. In other areas, progress has been more lukewarm or even contradictory to the promises of Havana, during the long dialogue process which, between 2012 and 2016, resulted in a historic peace agreement that earned Colombia worldwide recognition and the Nobel Peace Prize for then-President Santos.
In terms of security, for instance, violence has not disappeared. There are regions affected by dissidents, growing criminality, and the persistent presence of armed players outside the law, making it difficult for the state to maintain a permanent presence. Some analysts argue that the new peace is fragmented because not all groups have accepted the transformation equally.
While the current Petro government puts the spotlight on his predecessor’s alleged responsibility for not following the illicit crop substitution pact, the reality is that today more coca is grown illegally in Colombia than ever before, providing the perfect fuel for the multitude of illegal armed groups disputing territorial control with the state, thanks to drug trafficking routes.
Regarding political participation, the Comunes party — the political heir of FARC — has managed to consolidate its space, thanks essentially to the representation guaranteed for eight years by the Peace Agreement, which ends next March. Thus, the challenge for this political organization — which now aligns itself in a coalition outside the ruling Historical Pact — will be to achieve electoral support that it has not yet obtained.
Another complex front is collective and individual reparation. Although some compensation has indeed been significant, the pace remains slow and uneven. The bureaucracy of the Victims Unit, budgetary restrictions, lawsuits, and administrative processes delay progress, feeding frustration among those who signed in Havana with the hope of full reparation.
The territory applauds the imperfect 2016 peace in Colombia
Beyond political controversies, biased assessments, and dogmas, the territory overwhelmingly applauds the 2016 peace in Colombia. This outlet has spoken with several peasants and small producers of coffee or cocoa from Cauca and other regions where, despite current violence, they are recovering from decades of horror and barbarity.
Displacement, with the abandonment of their homes, land, and livelihoods, took a toll on these people who, nine years ago, were able to return to their homes — or what remained of them — after many years in which their territories became battlegrounds and a setting for violence that forced them to take other paths.
From these places, peasants such as Adelina Mapue, who leads a coffee enterprise, have only words of gratitude for the Santos government for the peace that “gave us our lives back.”
“After decades of living with violence, of having our children kidnapped and losing our homes and livelihoods, nine years ago we were able to return to our territory and start from scratch. President Santos gave us our lives back,” she says, with a tone of emotion that reveals the pain suffered by her and her family.
Nevertheless, Colombia has a great deal of work ahead. First, achieving a political consensus around peace that — nine years later — has still not been reached. Then, implementing the Agreement according to the commitments made by the State and transforming remote territories into development hubs that offer alternatives to illegal crops and, consequently, to the proliferation of criminal groups that — no one doubts today — seek nothing more than to profit from drug trafficking.