BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The former rebel group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, is violating a 2016 peace deal with the Colombian government by failing to relinquish gold, land and other assets to fund reparations for the group's victims, officials said Tuesday.
The Inspector General's Office said in a report Tuesday that FARC has handed over only a small amount of the assets under its control, undermining efforts to help victims of Colombia's decades-old conflict.
The rebels promised to surrender 444 kilograms (979 pounds) of gold under the 2016 peace deal, but have only turned in 252 kilograms (556 pounds) to authorities. They have handed over only one of the 722 rural properties they promised to hand over, and 17% of the cash, the agency said.
The FARC signed the historic deal with the government after fighting for at least five decades. The agreement spared FARC fighters from prison sentences, allowed them to form a political party and reserved 10 seats in Colombia’s congress for former members.
In exchange the group’s leaders agreed to handing over FARC assets to fund reparation projects such as infrastructure in rural areas, memorials to the victims of Colombia’s conflict or truth and reconciliation events.
Assets listed by the FARC were to be transferred to an agency known as Society of Special Assets, which could sell them and turn the money over to another agency in charge of helping victims of the conflict.
Jose Lisandro Lascarro, a former FARC commander known as “Pastor Alape,” told The Associated Press that the FARC did its best to hand over its assets in a process supervised by the United Nations. But he argued that some assets were not surrendered to Colombia’s government due to security problems.
“We handed over all of the assets that we could turn in, before other groups occupied our territory” Alape said.
The FARC’s disarmament in 2016 has been followed b y a surge in violence in some rural areas, where several smaller groups are fighting for control of the FARC’s former territory.
Lascarro said that this situation has stopped former FARC members from handing over more cash, because it was buried in chests in remote areas now controlled by other rebel groups. He added that the FARC had no formal titles for its rural properties, which has made it impossible for the group to turn its land or houses over to the government.
The Inspector General's Office also said that a tribunal created under the peace deal, known as the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, or JEP, currently lacks funds to implement rulings, which involve truth and reparation activities for victims of Colombia’s conflict.
Last year, the peace tribunal issued calls for reparations to victims of kidnappings committed by FARC and victims of extrajudicial executions carried out by the Colombian military.
The Inspector General’s Office warned Tuesday that the budget currently reserved for reparations for these victims is only 17% of what is required.
FILE - Jose Lisandro Lascarro, a former FARC commander known as “Pastor Alape,” exits a press conference in Bogota, Colombia, April 10, 2018. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, File)
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — For days it seemed there was no way out of the latest standoff between Europe and the United States: U.S. President Donald Trump insisted he must have Greenland — and would settle for nothing short of total ownership.
Even after he dropped the threat of force in a speech in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, the impasse remained. Enter: Mark Rutte.
The NATO secretary-general appears to have been instrumental in persuading Trump to scrap the threat of slapping punitive tariffs on eight European nations to press for U.S. control over Greenland — a stunning reversal shortly after insisting he wanted to get the island “including right, title and ownership.”
In a post on his social media site, Trump said he had agreed with Rutte on a “framework of a future deal” on Arctic security at the World Economic Forum in Davos, potentially defusing tensions that had far-reaching geopolitical implications.
Little is known about what the agreement entails — and Trump could change course again, but for now Rutte has earned his reputation as the “Trump Whisperer.”
That’s only the latest nickname for the man long known as “Teflon Mark” during his domination of Dutch politics for a dozen years.
Rutte's reputation for successfully charming the U.S. president took flight last year when he referred to Donald Trump as “daddy” during an alliance summit in The Hague and sent him a flattering text message.
Matthew Kroenig, vice president and senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, said the dramatic scenes in Davos underscored Rutte's ability to keep NATO’s most powerful leader on board.
“I think Secretary-General Rutte has emerged as one of Europe’s most effective diplomats and Trump whisperers,” Kroenig said. “He does seem to have a way of speaking to Trump that keeps the United States and the Trump administration engaged in NATO in a constructive way.”
Rutte’s success in dealing with Trump appears to revolve around his willingness to use charm and flattery while revealing little of what the two leaders discuss. It's a tactic that Rutte used to marshal coalition partners in nearly 13 years as Dutch prime minister.
Trump himself highlighted Rutte's effusive friendliness before he set off for Davos this week, publishing a text message from the NATO chief on his Truth Social platform. In it, Rutte addresses “Mr. President, dear Donald” and praises Trump for his diplomacy in Syria, Gaza and Ukraine.
“I am committed to finding a way forward on Greenland. Can't wait to see you. Yours, Mark,” the message ended.
Rutte became a poster boy for Dutch consensus politics while leading four often fractious ruling coalitions on his way to becoming the Netherlands’ longest-serving leader, surviving a number of domestic political scandals over the years and earning the nickname “Teflon Mark” because the fallout never seemed to stick to him for long.
The back cover of a 2016 book about Rutte by Dutch journalist Sheila Sitalsing, who followed him when he was prime minister, calls him “a phenomenon.”
“With indestructible cheerfulness he navigates the fragmented political landscape, recklessly forges the most extraordinary alliances and steadily works towards a new Netherlands,” it adds.
Rutte and his government resigned in 2021 to take responsibility for a child care allowance scandal in which thousands of parents were wrongly accused of fraud. But he bounced back to win national elections two months later with a slightly larger share of the vote and began his fourth and last term in office.
In another scandal that he survived, Rutte said in an interview that he couldn’t recall being informed about the Dutch bombing of Hawija that killed dozens of Iraqi civilians in 2015. In 2022, he survived a no-confidence motion in parliament in a debate about deleting messages from his old-school Nokia cell phone. Critics accused him of concealing state activity — but he insisted the messages just took up too much space in his phone.
Opposition lawmaker Attje Kuiken quipped: “It appears that the prime minister’s phone memory is used just as selectively as the prime minister’s own memory.”
His winning smile and enduring optimism, along with his habit of riding his bicycle to work while chomping on an apple seemed to help cement his popularity in the Netherlands, where such down-to-earth behavior is prized. When his last coalition collapsed in 2023 in a dispute over reining in migration, Rutte again leaned on that image, driving an old Saab station wagon to a royal palace to hand his resignation to King Willem-Alexander.
Just landing the NATO chief's job showed how adept Rutte is at navigating turbulent geopolitical waters. He managed to convince entrenched doubters, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to back his candidacy.
“It took a very long time. It’s a complicated process, but it’s an honor that it appears to have happened,” Rutte told reporters after securing all the support he needed to become secretary-general.
Rutte's soft diplomatic skills were seen as a key asset for the leader of the 32-nation alliance as it faced Trump's repeated criticism while navigating how to support Ukraine in war against Russia.
Several hours before Trump made his dramatic reversal on Greenland, Finnish President Alexander Stubb — another European leader credited with having a way with Trump — was asked during a panel discussion on European security in Davos “who or what can diffuse the tensions” over Greenland?
“Oh, Mark Rutte,” Stubb said, to laughter in the audience and among the panel that included the Dutchman himself.
Associated Press writers Lorne Cook in Brussels and Ali Swenson in Washington contributed.
President Donald Trump, right, meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte during a meeting on the sidelines of the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during a meeting with President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Secretary General of NATO Mark Rutte speaks during an Ukrainian Breakfast alongside the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
President Donald Trump, right, meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte during a meeting on the sidelines of the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
