The implementation of the 2016 FARC peace-agreement has become even more uncertain. In addition to the lack of resources and other political obstacles blocking progress, The Guardian reported on 29 August 2019 that two of the leading FARC negotiators had announced their
return to war and their intention to seek an alliance with the National Liberation Army (ELN).
According to RCN Radio reporting on 28 August 2019, several pastors belonging to the Justa Libres political movement have recently received
death-threats. They have been working in defense of human rights and the environment and are potential candidates for the October 2019 regional elections. According to the report, as many as ten church leaders have been assassinated since the beginning of 2019, the latest being Pastor Plinio Salcedo of the World Missionary Movement who was
shot dead on 10 August 2019 at his home in a village near the town of Tarazƒ¡ in the Department of Antioquia, as reported by Christian Solidarity Worldwide on 12 August 2019.
Rossana Ramirez, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, comments: "Violence and insecurity has intensified in Colombia, especially in rural areas previously abandoned by the FARC, as a result of territorial disputes between other guerrillas and criminal groups. With the official return of FARC to war, Christians will suffer from even less protection - especially those who advocate for the defense of human rights and who are still trying to get peace-agreement terms functioning locally. Catholic priests and Protestant pastors playing active roles in this are seen as a threat to the control that these groups want to exercise."
