“Peace with Legality”: The discursive exit route from the implementation of the Peace Agreement Between Farc-EP and the Colombian State

Sammanfattning: The Peace Agreement between Farc-EP and Juan Manuel Santos is the result of a complex dialogue, not only between the signing parties but also between the victims, the opposition, the international community and the civil society. The agreement entails a narrative that recognizes the armed conflict and proposes a path to end it while bringing peace and reconciliation. The settlement incorporates legal reform, transitional justice mechanisms and some structural changes designed to promote the end of political violence in Colombia. The opposition to the Peace Agreement, led by Álvaro Uribe Vélez and the “Democratic Center” won the presidential elections in 2018. Iván Duque Márquez was elected president in representation of the sector that promotes an opposed narrative to the agreement. Since the beginning of his presidency, Duque has been using “Peace with Legality” as the discourse to define the government’s version of the agreement’s implementation. Using Critical Discourse Analysis and Critical Transitional Justice Studies this research shows how “Peace with Legality” constitutes the discursive way out that Duque’s government found to the Peace Agreement’s implementation. While moving away from the idea of a post-conflict scenario it twists the implementation of the agreement into a process of stabilization. “Peace with Legality” is a securitized vision, which promotes a notion of legality, that does not recognize the armed conflict, focusing on retributive justice and the deployment of State’s violence to promote peace.