Mobilizing to Counter Post-agreement Security Challenges: The Case of the “Humanitarian Accord Now” in Chocó

This chapter explores how the signing of the 2016 Colombian peace agreement and the subsequent demobilization of the FARC affected ethnically based peace movements in Chocó. We argue that, although the peace agreement was met with overwhelming support by Chocoan civil society, rather than initiating a “demobilizing” effect on collective action for peace, the peace process had a “revamping” effect of ethnic organizing for peace. The opportunities and threats generated by the peace process and its subsequent impacts pushed peace movements in Chocó to give new and improved form and structure to existing efforts, reflecting both innovative thinking in response to a new context and the accumulated, hard-won knowledge of communities and leaders with nearly 30 years of experience in collectively responding to armed conflict.