(Bloomberg) — Colombia’s most powerful drug traffickers, extortionists and kidnappers will be allowed to keep as much as 12% of their criminal profits in exchange for handing in their weapons under a controversial new bill intended to reduce violence.

In his final year in office, President Gustavo Petro is seeking “total peace” with illegal armed groups that dominate swathes of the countryside. To help achieve that, the administration’s “law of surrender” prioritizes a de-escalation of the conflict over ensuring that gangsters pay for their crimes.

“We sacrifice some retributive justice to maximize other rights: truth, reparations, and non-repetition,” Deputy Justice Minister Yefferson Dueñas said in an interview this week. “Negotiations are difficult to achieve without incentives.”

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