Peace Without Guarantees: The Murder Of Leaders Of Restitution And Substitution Of Crops For Illicit Use In Colombia

The article analyzes the assassination of social leaders based on the study of two 'pro-peace policies', land restitution, and the program of substitution of illicit crops (PNIS). We argue that the violence against these leaders is related to participatory designs that promoted both policies and that neither considered strong local and national oppositions in their implementation nor were they consistent enough to implement the necessary mechanisms to protect the lives of leaders. To support this proposition, the article uses data from the Observatory of Restitution and Regulation of Agrarian Property Rights on the murder of leaders in Colombia. In addition, it makes a detailed review of the institutional designs of restitution and substitution based on information from the press, secondary literature, and interviews with leaders of these policies. We conclude that the implementation of restitution and substitution did not imply a realignment of state agencies at the territorial level, nor did it redesign counterinsurgency policies that identified leaders as targets of attack.