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Contemporary actors

Alice Coulter

Guerrillas

The restricted and unrepresentative nature of the political system under the National Front pact meant that marginalized groups began to challenge the political authority of the two parties. The government’s use of the army to repress peasant movements in the post-violencia period led to the militarisation of political opposition. During a period of particular repression, a group of peasants, loyal to the Communist Party, were led to safety by Manuel Marulanda, who went on to found the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in 1966. As one of the key present-day guerrilla groups, the FARC has maintained its links to the pro-Soviet Communist Party.

Other guerrilla groups, such as the ELN (Army of National Liberation) and the EPL (Popular Liberation Army), also emerged during this international period of revolutionary socialist ideology. Of these other groups, the ELN is one of the few that still remains a significant force in Colombia. Founded in 1964, the ELN drew its ideology from the 1959 revolution in Cuba, while the EPL, founded in 1967, reflected the principles of Maoist China. These latter movements were almost fatally crushed by increased army offensives during the 1970s, but revived in the 1980s.

Another organisation arrived on the scene in the 1970s, helping to revive the whole guerrilla movement. After his ousting in the 1950s, General Rojas Pinilla established a political party known as the Popular National Alliance (ANAPO). ANAPO contested the 1970 presidential elections, on April 19^th, only to be defrauded out of victory. Frustrated with the undemocratic political system, activists from ANAPO, together with disillusioned FARC members, formed the 19 April Movement, known popularly as M-19. Distinct from other guerrilla movements, M-19 based themselves more upon nationalist, rather than socialist, ideology and appealed to the young middle classes as well as poor urbanites. M-19 also differed in their political ambitions, hoping to compete within the political system. Unable to penetrate this closed system, whilst battling with the superior force of the army, M-19 waned and finally disarmed in March 1990 under a negotiated settlement with President Virgilio Barco.

Civil society

As well as the much publicised activities of the guerrilla movements and the extreme left, Colombia has a strong history of more conventional social organisation. In the post-violencia period, as the popularity of the two main political parties waned in response to lessening political competition and a lack of real representation, popular movements, such as labour unions and indigenous councils, increased in recognition. Of these organisations, the strongest have always been the peasant and worker movements. Originally set up by the state in 1967, the National Association of Peasants (ANUC) gained independence and became one of the most radical forces for rural change in the 1970s.

Despite these strong foundations for civil organisation, the recent upsurge of violence from both sides of the political spectrum has reduced the space for legitimate challenges to state authority and led to increased repression. Human rights campaigners are often the first to be targeted by armed factions for their revealing research and the implications this may have on both domestic support and international aid.

The Armed Forces

While Colombia can boast a long tradition of formal ‘democracy’ and only two short-lived periods of military rule, the armed forces have been consistently criticised for their role in the repression of social movements. In return for staying out of the political arena, the armed forces have benefited from relative autonomy in the realm of internal security. Their vision of ‘maintaining order’ incorporates attacks on what they consider to be ‘subversion’ or ‘insurgency’. In the past this has frequently included the repression of civil movements.

Paramilitary

The origins of contemporary paramilitary groups stem from the post-violencia period. During this time the army actively encouraged the arming of civilians to combat guerrilla aggression. This was even sanctioned by the pre-1991 Constitution, which specifically permitted the creation of ‘self-defence’ groups. These groups frequently received training and support from the armed forces to operate missions.[1]

Despite their initial mandate, these armed militias soon degenerated into offensive, rather than defensive, organisations, terrorising peasants with assumed links to guerrilla groups. Even as many of these organisations focused on brutal counter-insurgency, often involving innocent civilians, the link between the state, the army and paramilitary organisations has continued to be well documented.[2]

There has been a profusion of paramilitary organisations since the 1980s, with many of these emerging groups claiming roots in the legitimate local self-defence groups but more usually formed as a result of the needs of major drugs barons to protect their land, or revenge their families. In 1981, the daughter of a leading capo of the Medellín cartel was abducted by guerrillas. This attack led members of the cartel to form their own armed force, MAS (Muerte a Secuestradores or Death to Kidnappers), which soon became one of the most feared armed factions of its time. The AUC (United Self Defence Forces of Colombia) was formed in 1997 following the abduction and murder of the father of a major drugs baron, Fidel Castano. Today, the AUC are widely claimed to be the single largest perpetrator of human rights violations in Colombia.

Drugs Barons

In the early 1980s, the rising profitability of the drugs trade increased the status and power of particular drug cartels. Drug barons have subsequently become embroiled in an already complicated conflict between the state, the army, the paramilitary and various guerrilla groups.

The relative wealth of particular drugs barons, combined with the relative weakness of the state, has meant that cartels are able to operate in certain areas of the country with virtual impunity. The production and trafficking of illegal drugs has also exacerbated earlier problems by providing a new method of funding for armed groups, and corrupting the state. The combination of these effects has forced people to recognise the relevance of drugs as yet another dimension that needs to be accounted for in the political situation in Colombia.

[1] Colombia’s Killer Networks, Human Rights Watch Report, 1996 http://www.hrw.org/reports/1996/killertoc.htm
[2] Ibid.