521 former FARC guerrillas killed since peace deal

Colombia's Ombudsman said Wednesday that 521 former FARC guerrillas who signed the country's 2016 peace deal have been killed since the rebel army laid down its weapons.

The Ombudsman said former combatants are mainly killed by drug traffickers and rebels who broke away from the peace accord. It said killings of former guerrillas rose by 38.5 percent last year.

The 2016 agreement significantly reduced violence from one of Latin America's bloodiest conflicts, but illegal armed groups remain active in remote parts of Colombia.

The Ombudsman said about 11,000 of more than 14,100 peace deal signatories continue to comply with the agreement. The accord gave the former leftist rebel movement political representation and offered alternative sentences to prison for those who confess crimes, repair victims and pledge not to return to violence.

The report also warned against undermining progress from the peace process and said forced displacement rose by 740 percent between 2017 and 2025.

President Abelardo de la Espriella, three months into office, opposes dialogue with armed groups and has vowed to send them "to the grave or prison." Ombudswoman Iris Marin told AFP last week that armed groups and the national government did not want to stop the war.