EL ESPECTADOR, January 25, 2023
(Translated by Eunice Gibson, CSN Volunteer Translator)
The decree that makes her new post official has now been made public. She will take over the new Unit that puts together all the efforts that previously were the responsibility of other agencies.
Several months have passed since the announcement of her appointment to direct the accomplishment of what was agreed upon in Havana in 2016, but Cuartas now officially takes over as Director of the Unit for Implementation of the Peace Agreement.
Cuartas is the former Mayor of Apartadó, formerly a Member of Congress and the Democratic Pole Party, a social worker, defender of human rights, and has a master’s degree in geography.
In the administration of former President Iván Duque, various commissions and agencies had jurisdiction to implement the Final Agreement for the Termination of the Conflict and the Construction of a Stable and Lasting Peace (which is the complete name of what was agreed upon in 2016). Among those was the High Commission for Stabilization, separate from the Office of the High Commissioner for Peace.
With the changes endorsed by the Administrative Department of the Presidency (DAPRE), the Commission for Stabilization was eliminated and the Unit for Implementation of the Peace Agreement was created as a section attached to the office of the High Commissioner for Peace, Danilo Rueda. The change was established in Decree 2647 of December 30, 2022.
Thus, Cuartas will be working with Rueda and will be responsible for advising, articulating, and coordinating the plans, programs, and other supports for monitoring the implementation of the Peace Agreement, something that Petro has promised.
According to the administration, the Director will have the challenge of “regaining the spirit of the Agreement” and strengthening the organizations for dialog and participation by Mayors and Governors, as well as other local authorities, but from a vision of “total peace”. She will have to work to update the implementation plan, that’s to say, change the benchmarks for that policy, and protect the lives of the ones who signed the Agreement; their lives remain at risk.
“The implementation of this Agreement, which has at its center the victims of the armed conflict, will be constituted from and with the territories as a major contribution to “total peace”. The implementation involves great challenges that, without any doubt, we are ready to take on, because we believe that peace is indeed possible, and because the commitments in the Agreement are irreversible,” stated Gloria Cuartas.
Cuartas will also work at the side of Alejandra Miller, a former Member of the Truth Commission and now the Director of the Agency for Reincorporation and Normalization.