Colombian Armed Conflict or Colombian Civil War are terms that are employed to refer to the current low intensity conflict in Colombia that has existed since approximately 1964 or 1966, which was when the FARC and later the ELN were founded and subsequently started their guerrilla insurgency campaigns against successive Colombian government administrations. Plan Colombia is a controversial initiative aimed at resolving the ongoing, fifty-year civil war in Colombia. ... The FARC-EPs flag The Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del Pueblo (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – Peoples Army, or FARC-EP) is Colombias oldest and largest guerrilla group, established in 1964-1966 as the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party. ... Ejército de Liberación Nacional (usually abbreviated to ELN), or National Liberation Army, is a revolutionary, Marxist, insurgent guerrilla group that has been operating in several regions of Colombia since 1964. ... The Popular Liberation Army, EPL (Ejército de Liberación Nacional), is a Colombian guerrilla group created in 1967. ... Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia) or AUC is a terrorist umbrella organization formed in April 1997 to consolidate most local and regional paramilitary groups in Colombia, each with the mission to protect economic interests and combat insurgents locally. ... Paramilitarism in Colombia refers to the origin and development of paramilitary groups in Colombia during the 20th century. ... The Alianza Americana Anticomunista (Anticommunist American Alliance aka Triple A) was a state terrorism and paramilitary far-right group mainly operating in Colombia during 1978 and 1979. ... The 19th of April Movement, Movimiento 19 de Abril or M-19, was a Colombian guerrilla movement that traced its origins to the allegedly fraudulent presidential elections of April 19, 1970. ... The Peasant Student Workers Movement (in Spanish: Movimiento Obrero Estudiantil Campesino) was a leftist group in Colombia. ... The Santa Marta Massacre, in Spanish, matanza de las bananeras[1] was a massacre of workers for the United Fruit Company that occurred on December 6, 1928 in the town of Cienaga near Santa Marta, Colombia. ... La Violencia (literally The Violence, in Spanish) is a term that refers to an era of civil conflict in Colombia between supporters of the Colombian Liberal Party and the Colombian Conservative Party, a conflict which took place roughly from 1948 to 1955. ... Marquetalia Republic was a term used to unofficially refer to one of the enclaves in rural Colombia which Communist peasant guerrillas held during the aftermath of La Violencia (aprox. ... The Dominican embassy siege was the 1980 siege of the embassy of the Dominican Republic by M-19 guerrillas in Bogotá, Colombia. ... The Palace of Justice siege was a 1985 attack against the Supreme Court of Colombia, in which members of the M-19 guerrilla group took over the Palace of Justice in Bogotá, Colombia, and held the Supreme Court hostage, intending to hold a trial against Colombian President Belisario Betancur. ... The Unión Patriótica, Patriotic Union (UP), was a leftist Colombian political party founded by the FARC in 1985, as part of the peace negotiations that the guerrillas held with the Belisario Betancur administration. ... The Bojayá Massacre ocurred in May 2, 2002 in the Colombian town of Bojayá, in Chocó province. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Drummond Company is a privately owned companey based in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, involved in the mining and processing of coal and coal products. ... The Colombian Conservative Party (Partido Conservador Colombiano), is a conservative and right of center Colombian political party. ... Politics of Colombia Categories: Politics stubs | Liberal related stubs | Colombian political parties | Liberal parties ... The Colombian Communist Party is the legal Communist party of Colombia. ... Low intensity conflict (LIC) is the use of military forces applied selectively and with restraint to enforce compliance with the policies or objectives of the political body controlling the military force. ... 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... The FARC-EPs flag The Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del Pueblo (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – Peoples Army, or FARC-EP) is Colombias oldest and largest guerrilla group, established in 1964-1966 as the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party. ... Ejército de Liberación Nacional (usually abbreviated to ELN), or National Liberation Army, is a revolutionary, Marxist, insurgent guerrilla group that has been operating in several regions of Colombia since 1964. ... Guerrilla War redirects here. ... An insurgency is an armed revolt or insurrection against an established civil or political authority, such as a constituted government or an occupation by an invading force. ...

Historical Development

Background

The direct origins of the current conflict are usually dated to 1964-1966, while the remote origins would at least go back as far as 1948. 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ...

The 1948 assassination of Jorge Eliecer Gaitan lead to the Bogotazo, an urban riot killing more than 4000 people, and subsequently to ten years of sustained warfare between the Colombian Liberal Party and Colombian Conservative Party parties, a period known as La Violencia ("The Violence"), which took the lives of more than 200,000 people. 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ... Jorge Eliécer Gaitán (January 23, 1903 - April 9, 1948) was a populist politician in Colombia, and member of the Liberal Party. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Politics of Colombia Categories: Politics stubs | Liberal related stubs | Colombian political parties | Liberal parties ... The Colombian Conservative Party (Partido Conservador Colombiano), is a conservative and right of center Colombian political party. ... La Violencia (literally The Violence, in Spanish) is a term that refers to an era of civil conflict in Colombia between supporters of the Colombian Liberal Party and the Colombian Conservative Party, a conflict which took place roughly from 1948 to 1955. ...

As La Violencia wound down, most self-defense and guerrilla units made up of Liberal Party supporters demobilized, but at the same time some former Liberals and active Communist groups continued operating in several rural enclaves. One of the Liberal bands was a group known as the "Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia", or FARC, formed by Dumar Aljure in the early 1950s, one of the largest Liberal guerrillas in 1958. [1] This group eventually ceased to exist, but its name remained as a historical reference. The Colombian Communist Party is the legal Communist party of Colombia. ... 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Also in 1958, an exclusively bipartisan political alternation system, known as the National Front, resulted from an agreement between the Liberal and Conservative parties. The agreement had come as a result of the two parties attempting to find a final political solution to the decade of mutual violence and unrest, remaining in effect until 1974. 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1974 calendar). ...

1960s

Some of the guerrilla enclaves were attacked by Colombian Army units loyal to the National Front, and were driven from their mountain strongholds in the Marquetalia campaign of 1964. [2] 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ...

Inspired by the Cuban revolution, members of the Liberal and Communist guerrillas reorganized as a communist insurgency. In 1966, the modern incarnation of the "Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia" (FARC) was formally founded. The Cuban-backed ELN foco began operations independently that same year as well. This article or section is missing references or citation of sources. ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... The FARC-EPs flag The Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del Pueblo (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – Peoples Army, or FARC-EP) is Colombias oldest and largest guerrilla group, established in 1964-1966 as the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party. ... Ejército de Liberación Nacional (usually abbreviated to ELN), or National Liberation Army, is a revolutionary, Marxist, insurgent guerrilla group that has been operating in several regions of Colombia since 1964. ...

Unlike the rural FARC, which had roots in the previous Liberal peasant struggles, the ELN was mostly an outgrowth of university unrest and would subsequently tend to follow a small group of charismatic leaders, including Camilo Torres Restrepo. [3] San Francisco Bay Area political silkscreen poster depicting Camilo Torres, ca. ...

Both guerrillas remained mostly operational in remote areas of the country during the rest of the 1960s.

The Colombian government organized several short-lived counter-guerrilla campaigns in the late 50s and early 60s. These efforts were aided by the U.S. government and the CIA, which employed hunter-killer teams and involved U.S. personnel from the previous Philippine campaign against the Huks, and which would later participate in the subsequent Phoenix program in Vietnam. [4] [5] These efforts were combined with civic action programs, based on John F. Kennedy's "Alliance for Progress", in a bid to resolve the longstanding conflict using a "carrot and stick" strategy, by bringing development to some of the areas that had been hardest hit by the conflict. The CIA Seal The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an American intelligence agency, responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. Government. ... John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to as John F. Kennedy, JFK or Jack Kennedy, was the 35th President of the United States. ...

The immediate results were mixed. In some areas the programs were relatively successful, but in others, psychological traumas resulting from the violence of the hunter-killer operations may have overshadowed any goodwill created by the civic action programs, which were eventually discontinued as well. Several analysts argue that, even today, much of Colombia's continuing violence can be traced to individual acts of revenge for the deaths of family members, both on the side of the guerrillas and that of their opponents.

From the perspective of the Colombian government, the relative weakness of the guerrillas, especially after initial efforts appeared to be successful, would gradually lead to the end of most sustained operations against them by the end of the decade.

1970s

By 1974, another challenge to the state's authority and legitimacy had come from the 19th of April Movement (M-19), leading to a new phase in the conflict. The M-19 was a mostly urban guerrilla group, allegedly founded in response to an electoral fraud during the final National Front election of Misael Pastrana Borrero (1970 -1974) and the defeat of former dictator Gustavo Rojas Pinilla. 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1974 calendar). ... The 19th of April Movement, Movimiento 19 de Abril or M-19, was a Colombian guerrilla movement that traced its origins to the allegedly fraudulent presidential elections of April 19, 1970. ... Misael Pastrana Borrero was president of Colombia from 1970 to 1974. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1974 calendar). ... Gustavo Rojas Pinilla was a former military dictator (1953-1957) and Colombian political figure, as well as a former 1966 and 1970 presidential candidate on behalf of the National Popular Alliance, Alianza Nacional Popular, (ANAPO). ...

Initially, the M-19 attracted a degree of attention and sympathy from mainstream Colombians that the FARC and ELN had found largely elusive. This was due to extravagant and daring operations, such as stealing a sword that had belonged to Colombia's Independence hero Simon Bolívar and its theft of thousands of weapons from a Colombian Army installation. At the same time, its larger profile soon made it the focus of the state's counterinsurgency efforts. Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (July 24, 1783 – December 17, 1830) was a South American revolutionary leader. ...

Different presidential administrations chose to focus on ending the persistent insurgencies, all of which claimed to represent the poor and weak against the rich and powerful classes of the country, demanding the completion of true land and political reform, from an openly Communist perspective. An insurgency is an armed rebellion against a constituted authority, by any irregular armed force that rises up against an enforced or established authority, government, or administration. ... Communism - Wikipedia /**/ @import /w/skins-1. ...

The ELN had been seriously crippled by military operations in the region of Anorí in 1974, but it managed to reconstitute itself and escape destruction, in part due to the administration of Alfonso López Michelsen (1974-1978) allowing it to escape encirclement, hoping to initiate a peace process with the group. 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1974 calendar). ... Alfonso López Michelsen (b. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1974 calendar). ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ...

1980s

By 1982, the perceived passivity of the FARC, together with the relative success of the government's efforts against the M-19 and ELN, enabled the administration of the Liberal Party's Julio César Turbay Ayala (1978-1982) to lift a state-of-siege decree that had been in effect, on and off, for most of the previous 30 years. Under the latest such decree, president Turbay had implemented security policies that, though of some military value against the M-19 in particular, were considered highly questionable both inside and outside Colombian circles due to numerous accusations of military human rights abuses against suspects and captured guerrillas. Virgilio Barco Vargas (September 17, 1921 - May 20, 1997) was a politician and diplomat from Colombia. ... Categories: Departments of Colombia | Stub ... Term of office: August 7, 1990 – August 7, 1994 Preceded by: Virgilio Barco Vargas Succeeded by: Ernesto Samper Pizano Date of birth: March 31, 1947 Place of birth: Pereira, Colombia First Lady: Ana Milena Muñoz de Gaviria Political party: Liberal César Gaviria Trujillo (born March 31, 1947) is... Order: 42nd President Vice President: Gustavo Bell Lemus Term of office: August 7, 1998 – August 7, 2002 Preceded by: Ernesto Samper Succeeded by: Álvaro Uribe Date of birth: August 17, 1954 Place of birth: Bogotá First Lady: Nohra Puyana de Pastrana Political party: Conservative Andrés Pastrana Arango (born August... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Julio César Turbay Ayala (June 18, 1916 – September 13, 2005) was president of Colombia from 1978 to 1982, as a member (and later leader) of the Colombian Liberal Party. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Human rights violation. ...

Citizen exhaustion due to the conflict's newfound intensity led to the election of president Belisario Betancur (1982-1986), a Conservative who won 47% of the popular vote, directed peace feelers at all the insurgents, and negotiated a 1984 cease-fire with the FARC at La Uribe, Meta, after a 1982 release of many guerrillas imprisoned during the previous effort to overpower them. A truce was also arranged with the M-19. The ELN rejected entering any negotiation and continued to recover itself through the use of extortions and threats, in particular against foreign oil companies of European and U.S. origin. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Motto: Capital Villavicencio Governor Area 85,635 km² Population  - Total (2003)  - Density   771,089 9 people/km² Adjective The Meta is a department of Colombia. ... Ejército de Liberación Nacional (usually abbreviated to ELN), or National Liberation Army, is a revolutionary, Marxist, insurgent guerrilla group that has been operating in several regions of Colombia since 1964. ...

As these events were developing, the growing illegal drug trade and its consequences were also increasingly becoming a matter of widespread importance to all participants in the Colombian conflict. Guerrillas and newly wealthy druglords had mutually uneven relations and thus numerous incidents occurred between them. Eventually the kidnapping of drug cartel family members by guerrillas led to the creation of the 1981 Muerte a Secuestradores (MAS) death squad ("Death to Kidnappers"). Pressure from the U.S. government and critical sectors of Colombian society was met with further violence, as the Medellín Cartel and its hitmen, bribed or murdered numerous public officials, politicians and others who stood in its way by supporting the implementation of extradition of Colombian nationals to the U.S. Victims of cartel violence included Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, assassinated in 1984, an event which made the Betancur administration begin to directly oppose the druglords. These lollipops were found to contain heroin when inspected by the US DEA The trade of illegal drugs is a global activity consisting of distribution, shipping, dilution and sale to the respective end-customer of a given (at the country or area observed) illegal psychoactive substance. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Medellín Cartel was a well-organized but very loose network of drug smugglers originating in the city of Medellín in Colombia and operating through the 1970s and 1980s. ... Extradition is a formal process by which a criminal suspect held by one government is handed over to another government for trial or, if the suspect has already been tried and found guilty, to serve his or her sentence. ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The first negotiated cease-fire with the M-19 ended when the guerrillas resumed fighting in 1985, claiming that the cease-fire had not been fully respected by official security forces, saying that several of its members had suffered threats and assaults, and also questioning the government's real willingness to implement any accords. The Betancur administration in turn questioned the M-19's actions and its commitment to the peace process, as it continued to advance high profile negotiations with the FARC, which led to the creation of the Patriotic Union (UP), a legal and non-clandestine political organization. The 19th of April Movement, Movimiento 19 de Abril or M-19, was a Colombian guerrilla movement that traced its origins to the allegedly fraudulent presidential elections of April 19, 1970. ... This article is about the year. ... The Unión Patriótica, Patriotic Union (UP), was a leftist Colombian political party founded by the FARC in 1985, as part of the peace negotiations that the guerrillas held with the Belisario Betancur administration. ...

On November 6, 1985, the M-19 stormed the Colombian Palace of Justice and held the Supreme Court magistrates hostage, intending to put president Betancur on trial. In the ensuing crossfire that followed the military's reaction, some 120 people lost their lives, as did most of the guerrillas, including several high-ranking operatives and 12 Supreme Court Judges.^[7] Both sides blamed each other for the outcome. This marked the end of the Betancur's peace process.^[8] November 6 is the 310th day of the year (311th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 55 days remaining. ... This article is about the year. ... The Palace of Justice siege was a 1985 attack against the Supreme Court of Colombia, in which members of the M-19 guerrilla group took over the Palace of Justice in Bogotá, Colombia, and held the Supreme Court hostage, intending to hold a trial against Colombian President Belisario Betancur. ...

Meanwhile, individual FARC members initially joined the UP leadership in representation of the guerrilla command, though most of the guerrilla's chiefs and militiamen did not demobilize nor disarm, as that was not a requirement of the process at that point in time. Tension soon significantly increased, as both sides began to accuse each other of not respecting the cease-fire. Political violence against FARC and UP members (including presidential candidate Jaime Pardo Leal) was blamed on druglords and also on members of the security forces (to a much lesser degree on the argued inaction of Betancur's administration). Members of the government and security authorities increasingly accused the FARC of continuing to recruit guerrillas, as well as kidnapping, extorting and politically intimidating voters even as the UP was already participating in politics. Jaime Pardo Leal (died October 11, 1987) was the Presidential candidate of the Patriotic Union (Colombia) the political wing of the FARC-EP (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - Ejercito del Pueblo). Pardo Leal himself was assassinated by a 14-year old in October 11, 1987, who was later killed as...

1990s

Early 1990s

The Virgilio Barco Vargas (1986-1990) administration, in addition to continuing to handle the difficulties of the complex negotiations with the guerrillas, also inherited a particularly chaotic confrontation against the druglords, who were engaged in a campaign of terrorism and murder in response to government moves in favor of their extradition overseas. The UP also suffered an increasing number of losses during this term (including the assassination of presidential candidate Bernardo Jaramillo Ossa), which stemmed both from private proto-paramilitary organizations, increasingly powerful druglords and a number of would-be paramilitary-sympathizers within the armed forces. Virgilio Barco Vargas (September 17, 1921 - May 20, 1997) was a politician and diplomat from Colombia. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... It has been suggested that Political terrorism be merged into this article or section. ... A paramilitary organization is a group of civilians trained and organized in a military fashion. ...

Since 1987, the ceasefire between the FARC and the Colombian government had gradually collapsed due to regional guerrilla and Army skirmishes that created a situation where each violation of the ceasefire rendered it null in each location, until it was rendered practically nonexistent. 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The M-19 and several smaller guerrilla groups were successfully incorporated into a peace process as the 1980s ended and the 90s began, which culminated in the elections for a Constituent Assembly of Colombia that would write a new constitution, which took effect in 1991. The Constituent Assembly of Colombia (Spanish: Asamblea Nacional Constituyente de Colombia) was formed on February 5, 1991, to draft Colombias 1991 constitution. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Contacts with the FARC, which had irregularly continued despite the generalized de facto interruptions of the ceasefire and the official 1987 break from negotiations, were temporarily cut off in 1990 under the presidency of César Gaviria Trujillo (1990-1994). The Colombian Army's assault on the FARC's Casa Verde sanctuary at La Uribe, Meta, followed by a FARC offensive that sought to undermine the deliberations of the Constitutional Assembly, began to highlight a significant break in the uneven negotiations carried over from the previous decade. De facto is a Latin expression that means in fact or in practice. It is commonly used as opposed to de jure (meaning by law) when referring to matters of law or governance or technique (such as standards), that are found in the common experience as created or developed without... This article is about the year. ... Term of office: August 7, 1990 – August 7, 1994 Preceded by: Virgilio Barco Vargas Succeeded by: Ernesto Samper Pizano Date of birth: March 31, 1947 Place of birth: Pereira, Colombia First Lady: Ana Milena Muñoz de Gaviria Political party: Liberal César Gaviria Trujillo (born March 31, 1947) is... This article is about the year. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated like the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal. // Events January Bill Clinton January 1 : North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect. ... Motto: Capital Villavicencio Governor Area 85,635 km² Population  - Total (2003)  - Density   771,089 9 people/km² Adjective The Meta is a department of Colombia. ...

Both parties nevertheless never completely broke off some amount of political contacts for long, as some peace feelers continued to exist, leading to short rounds of conversations in both Caracas, Venezuela (1991) and Tlaxcala, Mexico (1992). Despite the signing of several documents, no concrete results were achieved when the talks ended. City motto: Ave María Santísima, sin pecado concebida, en el primer instante de su ser natural. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Tlaxcala is the name of both a state of Mexico and of that states capital city. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ...

Mid-1990s

FARC military activity increased throughout the bulk of the 1990s as the group continued to grow in wealth from both kidnapping and drug-related activities, while drug crops rapidly spread throughout the countryside. The guerrillas protected many of the coca growers from eradication campaigns and allowed them to grow and commercialize coca in exchange for a "tax" either in money or in crops.

In this context, FARC had managed to recruit and train more fighters, beginning to use them in concentrated attacks in a novel and mostly unexpected way. This lead to a series of high profile raids and attacks against Colombian state bases and patrols, mostly in the southeast of Colombia but also affecting other areas.

In mid-1996 a civic protest movement made up of an estimated 200,000 coca growers from Putumayo and part of Cauca began marching against the Colombian government to reject its drug war policies, including fumigations and the declaration of special security zones in some departments. Different analysts have stressed that the movement itself fundamentally originated on its own, but at the same time, FARC heavily encouraged the marchers and actively promoted their demands both peacefully and through the threat of force. [10][11] Additionally, in 1997 and 1998, town councilmen in dozens of municipalties of the south of the country were threatened, killed, kidnapped, forced to resign or to exile themselves to department capitals by the FARC and the ELN. [12] [13] [14] 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... Categories: Departments of Colombia | Stub ... Cauca is a department of Colombia. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ...

In Las Delicias, Caquetá, five FARC fronts (about 400 guerrillas) recognized intelligence pitfalls in a Colombian Army base and exploited them to overrun it on August 30, 1996, killing 34 soldiers, wounding 17 and taking some 60 as prisoners. Another significant attack took place in El Billar, Caquetá in March 2, 1998, where a Colombian Army counterinsurgency batallion was patrolling, resulting in the death of 62 soldiers and the capture of some 43. Other FARC attacks against Police bases in Miraflores, Guaviare and La Uribe, Meta in August 1998 killed more than a hundred soldiers, policemen and civilians, and resulted in the capture or kidnapping of a hundred more. Caquetá is a department of Colombia. ... August 30 is the 242nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (243rd in leap years), with 123 days remaining. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... March 2 is the 61st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (62nd in leap years). ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... Miraflores, (Colombia) can refer to one of several locations in Colombia. ... Guaviare is a department of Colombia. ... Motto: Capital Villavicencio Governor Area 85,635 km² Population  - Total (2003)  - Density   771,089 9 people/km² Adjective The Meta is a department of Colombia. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ...

These attacks, and the dozens of members of the Colombian security forces taken prisoner by the FARC, contributed to increasingly shaming the government of president Ernesto Samper Pizano (1994-1998) in the eyes of sectors of public and political opinion. He was already the target of numerous critics due to revelations of a drug-money scandal surrounding his presidential campaign. Perceptions of corruption due to similar scandals led to Colombia's decertification as a country cooperating with the United States in the war on drugs in 1995 (when the effects of the measure were temporarily waived), 1996 and 1997. [15][16] Categories: Stub | Presidents of Colombia | 1950 births ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated like the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal. // Events January Bill Clinton January 1 : North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... Operation Mallorca, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, 2005 [1] The War on Drugs is an initiative undertaken by the United States to carry out an all-out offensive (as President Nixon described it) against the prohibited use of certain legally controlled drugs. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The Samper administration reacted against FARC's attacks by gradually abandoning numerous vulnerable and isolated outposts in more than 100,000 square km² of the rural countryside, instead concentrating Army and Police forces in the more heavily defended strongholds available, which allowed the guerrillas to more directly mobilize through and influence events in large areas of rural territory which were left with little or no remaining local garrisons.

Samper also contacted the guerrillas in order to negotiate the release of some or all of the hostages in FARC hands, which led to the temporary demilitarization of the municipalty of Cartagena del Chairá, Caquetá in July 1997 and the unilateral liberation of 70 soldiers, a move which was opposed by the command of the Colombian military. Other contacts between the guerrillas and government, as well as with representatives of religious and economic sectors, continued throughout 1997 and 1998. Caquetá is a department of Colombia. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Altogether, these events were interpreted by some Colombian and foreign analysts as a turning point in the armed confrontation, giving the FARC the upper hand in the military and political balance, making the Colombian government a target of critics from some observers who concluded that its weakness was being evidenced, perhaps even overshadowing a future guerrilla victory in the middle term. A leaked 1998 U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) report went so far as to speculate that this could be possible within 5 years if the guerrilla's rate of operations was kept up without effective opposition. Some viewed this report as inaccurate and alarmist, claiming that it did not properly take into account many factors, such as possible actions that the Colombian state and the U.S. might take in response to the situation, nor the effects of the existence of paramilitary groups. [17] 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... DIA seal The Defense Intelligence Agency is a major producer and manager of intelligence for the United States Department of Defense. ...

Also during this period, paramilitary activities increased, both legally and illegally. The creation of legal CONVIVIR self-defense and intelligence gathering groups was authorized by Congress and the Samper administration in 1994. Members of CONVIVIR groups were accused of committing numerous abuses against the civilian population by several human rights organizations. The groups were left without legal support after a 1997 decision by the Colombian Constitutional Court which restricted many of their prerrogatives and demanded stricter oversight. After 1997, preexisting paramilitary forces and several former CONVIVIR members joined in creating the "Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia" ("United Self-defense Forces of Colombia") or AUC, a now illegal loose federation of regional paramilitary groups. A paramilitary organization is a group of civilians trained and organized in a military fashion. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated like the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal. // Events January Bill Clinton January 1 : North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia, AUC) was formed in April 1997 as an umbrella paramilitary organization to consolidate most local and regional paramilitary groups in Colombia, each with the mission to protect local economic, social and political interests by fighting insurgents in their areas. ...

The AUC, originally present around the central/northwest part of the country, executed a series of offensives into areas of guerrilla influence, targeting those that they considered as either guerrillas in disguise or their suspected collaborators. This resulted in a continuing series of massacres, such as a July 1997 operation against the village of Maripipán, Meta, which left between 30 and 49 civilians dead. After some of these operations, government prosecutors and/or human rights organizations repeatedly blamed officers and members of Colombian Army and Police units for either passively permitting these acts, or directly collaborating in their execution. [18][19][20] 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Late 1990s / Early 2000s

On August 7, 1998, Andrés Pastrana Arango was sworn in as the President of Colombia. A member of the Conservative Party, Pastrana defeated Liberal Party candidate Horacio Serpa in a run-off election marked by high voter turn-out and little political unrest. The new president's program was based on a commitment to bring about a peaceful resolution of Colombia's longstanding civil conflict and to cooperate fully with the United States to combat the trafficking of illegal drugs. August 7 is the 219th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (220th in leap years), with 146 days remaining. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... Order: 42nd President Vice President: Gustavo Bell Lemus Term of office: August 7, 1998 – August 7, 2002 Preceded by: Ernesto Samper Succeeded by: Álvaro Uribe Date of birth: August 17, 1954 Place of birth: Bogotá First Lady: Nohra Puyana de Pastrana Political party: Conservative Andrés Pastrana Arango (born August...

While early initiatives in the Colombian peace process gave reason for optimism, the Pastrana administration also had to combat high unemployment (up to a high of over 20% ) and other economic problems, such as the fiscal deficit and the impact of global financial instability on Colombia. Additionally, the growing severity of countrywide guerrilla attacks by the FARC and ELN, and smaller movements, as well as the growth of drug production, corruption and the spread of even more violent paramilitary groups such as the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) made it seem increasingly difficult to solve the country's problems. Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia, AUC) was formed in April 1997 as an umbrella paramilitary organization to consolidate most local and regional paramilitary groups in Colombia, each with the mission to protect local economic, social and political interests by fighting insurgents in their areas. ...

Although the FARC accepted participation in the peace process, they did not make explicit commitments to end the conflict in the short term. The FARC suspended talks in November 2000, to protest what it called "paramilitary terrorism" but returned to the negotiating table in February 2001, following 2 days of meetings between President Pastrana and FARC leader Manuel Marulanda. The Colombian Government and ELN in early 2001 continued discussions aimed at opening a formal peace process, though no concrete agreements were reached. This article is about the year 2000. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ...

No single explanation fully addresses the deep roots of Colombia's present-day troubles, but they include limited government presence in large areas of the interior, the expansion of illicit drug cultivation, endemic violence, and social inequities. In order to confront these challenges, the Pastrana administration unveiled its Plan Colombia in late 1999, an integrated strategy to deal with these longstanding, mutually reinforcing problems. Plan Colombia is a controversial initiative aimed at resolving the ongoing, fifty-year civil war in Colombia. ...

On September 10, 2001, the AUC were added to the US State Department's list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Critics had long accused the US of hypocrisy for labeling the FARC and ELN terrorists, while ignoring the AUC, which was responsible for far more killings.^[21] Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia, AUC) was formed in April 1997 as an umbrella paramilitary organization to consolidate most local and regional paramilitary groups in Colombia, each with the mission to protect local economic, social and political interests by fighting insurgents in their areas. ... The U.S. State Departments list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations is a lists of non-US organizations that are designated as terrorist by the United States Secretary of State in accordance with section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), as amended. ... It has been suggested that Political terrorism be merged into this article or section. ...

After the eventual breakup of the peace negotiations in early 2002, which had been stalled numerous times and finally ended due to a guerrilla kidnapping of a congressman and other political figures, the Caguán demilitarized zone was terminated by the Pastrana administration. For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ...

Soon after that, in May 2002, the former liberal politician of conservative leanings Álvaro Uribe Vélez, whose father had been killed by left-wing guerrillas, was sworn in as Colombian president. He immediately began taking action to crush the FARC, ELN, and AUC, including the employment of citizen informants to help the police and armed forces track down suspected members in all three armed groups. For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... Order: 43rd President Vice President: Francisco Santos Calderón Term of office: August 7, 2002 – Present Preceded by: Andrés Pastrana Succeeded by: Incumbent Date of birth: July 4, 1952 Place of birth: Medellín First Lady: Lina Moreno de Uribe Political party: Independent Álvaro Uribe Vélez (born July...

Recent developments

As of 2004, two years after its implementation began, the security situation of inside Colombia has suffered some measure of an improvement and the economy, while still fragile, has also shown some positive signs according to observers, but relatively little has yet to have been accomplished in structurally solving most of the country's other grave problems, possibly in part due to legislative and political conflicts between the administration and the Colombian Congress (including those over the controversial project to eventually re-elect Uribe), and a relative lack of freely allocated funds and credits. 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Some critical observers consider that Uribe's policies, while admittedly reducing crime and guerrilla activity, might be too slanted in favor of a military solution to Colombia's internal war, neglecting grave social and human rights concerns to a certain extent. They ask for Uribe's government to change this position and make serious efforts towards improving the human rights situation inside the country, protecting civilians and reducing any abuses committed by the armed forces.

Two important FARC commanders are now on trial in Washington D.C., after being extradited due to drug-related offenses and other charges. One of them is Ricardo Palmera, aka "Simon Trinidad", who has also been accused of "hostage taking" because of his alleged complicity in the capture of three U.S. contractors and/or CIA agents, who either crashed or were shot down while conducting surveillance over rural areas under FARC influence and control. Simón Trinidad during his capture on January 2, 2004. ...

Palmera has been related to this case due to his admission that he would allegedly have traveled to Ecuador, where he was arrested, in order to supposedly arrange for the negotiation of a prisoner exchange with the Colombian government. The defendant has argued that such efforts were made under the auspices of the UN. The other "co-defendant" in Palmera's case is the entire FARC organization. [22] The court will hear arguments on Palmera's status as a prisoner of war in mid-January. The other FARC commander is Nayibe Rojas Valderrama, also known as "Sonia", who is accused of drug trafficking and, if convicted, will be a landmark case tying the FARC to the drug trade.

Controversy about the term "civil war"

There is an informal yet relatively widespread controversy about what would be the most accurate term to describe Colombia's war [23]. A common argument would be that a civil war would have started in 1964 as the result of the social, economic and political background of the country and thus current violence could not be considered an isolated phenomenon. This application of the term civil war to the ensuing conflict that began in Colombia has been considered debatable by some, as another position held by several analysts would point out that the conflict's caracteristics, scale and intensity have not reached those of a full blown civil war. A civil war is a war in which parties within the same culture, society or nationality fight for political power or control of an area. ... 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... A civil war is a war in which parties within the same culture, society or nationality fight for political power or control of an area. ... A civil war is a war in which parties within the same culture, society or nationality fight for political power or control of an area. ...

Specifically, it is argued that the FARC and other guerrillas would not have become a powerful and relevant enough threat to the Colombian establishment until a couple of years in the mid-1990s, if at all. There was a period of approximately two to three years (1996 to 1998) when the FARC executed a string of military attacks considered as impressive operations nationally and internationally, which were interpreted as a demonstration of its armed strength. The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ...

Another of the arguments that have been employed by analysts would allege that Colombian society, as a whole, would not have noticeably and massively divided into organized supporters of both the insurgents and the government. Some have also pointed out that the label is not as often applied to past and present wars against armed insurgencies of some significance in the rest of South America, such as the Shining Path in Peru. It is additionally argued that such a label would give recognized legitimacy to the actions of the insurgents, something as of yet unclear in the international arena. South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ... Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso in Spanish) is a Maoist guerrilla insurgent organization in Peru; followers are generally called Senderistas. ...

Other observers would consider that the term civil war should also apply to those situations as well, as it would be suggested that, irrespective of the proportional strength of arms or numbers between the involved parties, several different social, political and ideological projects would be in conflict.

By 2002, President Andrés Pastrana, as well as certain intellectuals and international organizations had often referred to the conflict as a "war against civilians" or a "war against civilian society", choosing to highlight the fact that most of the victims from guerrilla, druglord and paramilitary violence (as well as from any state abuses) are civilians irrespective of their specific political positions, as the result of the degeneration of a war that they considered currently devoid of any previous political and social meaning. President Pastrana also separately admitted that an armed conflict does exist in Colombia, but rejected its characterization as a civil war. For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ...

Another side of the issue has to do with translation and interpretation concerns. In traditional studies and press reports written in the English language, the term civil war is often used to refer to the war in Colombia, while it is somewhat rarer to see this term employed with as much regularity in the Spanish-speaking media, both inside and outside of Colombia. This has also become rare in some recent academic studies written in the English language as well, where the terms "armed conflict" or "internal conflict" are more common. The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

After having desisted repeatedly from categorizing the FARC as terrorists, President Pastrana adopted that terminology in the speech that ended the peace process on February 20, 2002. This position had been stated by the United States administration since November 2, 2001, when the State Department included FARC in its "List of Terrorists and Groups Identified Under Executive Order 13224"[24], after the September 11, 2001 attacks. The explosion resulting from the crashing of United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower. ...

There are also several political and legal ramifications to the issue that have gained notoriety outside of academic circles. In recent years, an extra level of complexity has been added to the debate, as in different instances Colombian President Álvaro Uribe has said that he doesn't consider Colombia's war to be neither an armed conflict nor a civil war, rejecting both labels and instead focusing on what he calls the "terrorist threat". This new position had been considered increasingly controversial in Colombia itself, and this perspective initially had few outright defenders outside the circles of the Colombian administration. Patrick Uribe Vélez (born July 4, 1952) is the President of Colombia (since 2002). ...

The use of this new term has been criticized or ignored by both national and international NGOs, several supporters and opponents of president Uribe's government policies, some of the mainstream Colombian media outlets and also by other Colombian government officials associations, such as mayors and governors. Most of these groups would consider that there is in fact an armed conflict in the country, though in turn they all still disagree among themselves as to the proper employment of the term "civil war". A non-governmental organization (NGO) is a non-profit group or association that acts outside of institutionalized political structures and pursues matters of interest to its members by lobbying, persuasion, or direct action. ...

In September 2005, President Uribe modified his previous stance, by stating that if the ELN was willing to declare a ceasefire and enter negotiations with the government, he was willing to set aside his personal beliefs (the existence of a "terrorist threat" in Colombia) and accept the existence of an "armed conflict". [25] [26] 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Ejército de Liberación Nacional (usually abbreviated to ELN), or National Liberation Army, is a revolutionary, Marxist, insurgent guerrilla group that has been operating in several regions of Colombia since 1964. ...

Quotes

• "I wish there were clear-cut good guys and clear-cut bad guys. But Colombia isn't a story of good guys and bad guys."^[27]

Poverty

• "Colombia is a country of massive contrasts. It has huge natural wealth, including 26 billion barrels of oil and the world's fourth largest coal exports. UN reports show that, between 1991 and 1997, the gap between richest and poorest doubled. All the policies of Uribe and his supporters will widen this still further. His economic strategy has seen public spending slashed, services privatised and international mining companies being granted concessions...The latest privatisation programme threatens 40,000 jobs...the oil and mining companies are keen to remove indigenous people from their land so that they can easily exploit the country's huge coal and oil reserves." ^[28]
• "No military campaign will ever extinguish the narcotics trade, because it would first be necessary to eliminate the disenfranchised members of society, individual by individual."^[29]
• "Colombia has become 'by far the biggest humanitarian catastrophe of the Western Hemisphere.'"^[30]

Weak central government

• "It would be difficult to conceive of a geographic pattern of internal arrangement that would appear to make the achievement of political unity and coherence more difficult than in Colombia."^[31]
• "Poverty and inequality play a part (in the violence), but cannot be the only explanation as Colombia is not the poorest country in Latin America nor the most unequal. Colombia's history of recurrent civil wars and resulting enmities are important factors; but it is only in recent years that the level of violence has climbed to such heights: in the 1970s Colombia had a similar murder rate to Brazil, by the 1990s, it was three times higher.
  Colombia is suffering a crisis of the State that encompasses the political crisis but is broader than it. For political and historical reasons...the elite no longer have confidence in the State security forces. Landowners, businesses and local politicians have resorted to hiring private gunmen to defend their interests. The general population has little faith in the justice system, correctly perceiving that there is little chance of any criminal being caught. Only 5% of crimes in the 1990s were investigated and just 1% resulted in convictions, according to government figures; this compares with a conviction rate of 5% in the 1970s and 20% in the 1960s. Drugs are not the cause of this crisis, but have exacerbated it. During the 1970s and 1980s, the establishment turned a blind eye to—or shared in the profits of—the drugs trade, enabling the cartels gradually to undermine the judiciary and penetrate the state apparatus. The cartels followed a policy of plata o plomo [money or lead] to cow the legal profession. Forty judges and lawyers were killed each year between 1979 and 1991, and many more fled the country, left their jobs, kept quiet or accepted bribes. Similarly many police officers were corrupted or killed. This has fatally undermined the rule of law in Colombia. It has also led to a proliferation of armed criminal gangs and professional hit men known as sicarios."^[32]

Guerrillas and paramilitaries

• "Clearly the FARC are bit players in comparison to the paramilitary networks and the cocaine barons that these paramilitaries protect. So, with both the U.S. and the UN anti-drug agencies consistently reporting over a number of years that the paramilitaries are far more heavily involved than the FARC in drug cultivation, refinement and transhipment to the U.S., why has Plan Colombia emphasised the FARC's alleged links to international drug trafficking?...the U.S. support Colombian [paramilitaries for]...two main reasons: capital stability and oil. By attempting to destroy the FARC and Colombia's progressive civil society, both the Colombian and U.S. elites hope to create stability for continued inward investment and resource extraction."^[33]
• [Colombian insurgents] "represent a danger to the $4.3 billion in direct U.S. investment in Colombia. They regularly attack U.S. interests, including the railway used by the Drummond Coal Mining facility and Occidental Petroleum's stake in the Cano Limon oil pipeline. Terrorist attacks on the Cano Limon pipeline also pose a threat to U.S. energy security. Colombia supplied three per cent of U.S. oil imports in 2001, and possesses substantial potential oil and natural gas reserves."^[34]
• "Do the guerrillas represent "the people"? In regions they control, FARC does support the survival of peasant farms against the encroachment of landlords. Beyond this, most knowledgeable observers say that FARC does not represent el pueblo. Rather, the guerrillas and the paramilitaries are engaged in a power struggle over control of territory as a way to control people and resources."^[35]
• [The paramilitaries] "are carrying out a kind of reverse agrarian reform, expelling peasants to take over land." ^[36]

Statistics: Human Rights

• More than 50,000 people have died in political violence since 1980.^[37]
• According to the World Health Organization, in 1995, there were more violent deaths of young men in Brazil, which is not considered at war, than in Colombia.^[38] (But see Livingstone quote above)
• Since 1985 there have been 25,000 violent deaths per year, a total of 300,000 murders over the past decade and a half, 18% of which are attributable to the political violence.^[39]
• Over 35,000 people have been killed in these conflicts during the last decade. The rate of killing in Colombia far exceeds the amount of ethnic cleansing that went on after the breakup of Yugoslavia.^[40]
• Homicide is the leading cause of death for men between the ages of 18 and 45, and the second leading cause for women.^[41] In 1991 murder became the main cause of natural death.^[42]
• From 2000 through 2002, more than 5,000 people died in 900 massacres and another 3,500 a year were kidnapped for ransom.^[43]
• In 1996 there were eight politically-related deaths a day, by 2001 there were 18 per day.^[44]
• In 2001, 9% of the 26,540 homicides were clearly political assassinations and less than 7% of the people were killed in combat on all sides. Most violence in Colombia does not have an explicit political motive. ^[45]
• As of 2003, Colombia has had one of the highest murder rates in the world: nine times greater than the US and 28 times greater than the United Kingdom.^[46]
• Guerillas are responsible for less than a quarter of political killings in Colombia, but are responsible for half of all kidnappings.^[47]
• In 2001, the FARC and the ELN abducted 1,589 people.^[48]
• Responsibility for political killings:

• October 1995-June 2001, where presumed perpetrators were identified:

76% Paramilitaries (9,114 victims)

19% Guerrillas (2,275 victims)

5% State security forces (571 victims)

Total victims: 11,960^[49]

• Politically motivated homicides and extrajudicial executions, October 1995-June 2001, unidentified perpetrators included:

• October 1995-June 2001, unidentified perpetrators included:

47% Paramilitaries (6,821 victims)

25% Unknown (3,683 victims)

25% Unidentified armed groups (1,406 victims)

19% Guerrillas (2,246 victims)

3% State security forces (486 victims)

Total victims: 14,642^[50]

• Responsibility for murders by illegal armed groups 1988-1997

82% Other illegal groups (paramilitaries, social cleansing, private justice squads, drug cartels) (19,652 victims)

18% Guerrillas (3,532 victims)^[51]

The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations, acting as a coordinating authority on international public health, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. ... Yugoslavia (Jugoslavija in all south Slavic languages, in Serbian and Macedonian Cyrillic Југославија) is a term used for three separate but successive political entities that existed during most of the 20th century on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe. ...

Statistics:Refugees and Ex-pats

• 2 million out of 36 million Colombians have fled their homes since 1985. This makes Colombia the country with the largest number of displaced people after only Congo and Sudan.^[52]
• In 2000, 317,000 people abandoned their homes.^[53]
• 1.1 million Colombians have departed since 1996 for the United States, Europe, and other Latin American countries (mainly Ecuador and Costa Rica).^[54]
• Neighboring Venezuela has a population of 3 million Colombians, the vast majority of whom came for jobs, while others are victims of corruption and violence.^[55]
• Ecuador is haven to some 350,000 illegal Colombians.^[56]
• An estimated 2.5 million Colombians live in the United States.^[57]

Statistics: Insurgency, paramilitary, and military

• The ELN has roughly 4,000 members.^[58]
• The FARC have 17,000 fighters, one quarter of whom are women. This is up from only 5,000 guerillas in the 1980's.^[59]
• The paramilitaries (AUC) claim to have 10,000 members.^[60]
• In mid- 2002, Colombia’s military had only 60,000-80,000 soldiers available for combat against the FARC, ELN, and AUC; to protect the electrical infrastructure, roads and communications, and oil and gas pipelines (5,000 critical points) from sabotage by these insurgent groups; and to patrol 18,000 kilometers of roads and rivers. The rest of the troops were in support roles or in training. Additionally, 6,242 corregimientos (districts) needed military presence, but only 980 had it, while the AUC, FARC, and ELN were present in some 5,300 districts. Military resources were concentrated in zones of higher population density and greater economic activity.

This is nothing new; a weak military has been the historical pattern. Colombian elites historically have preferred a weak central government and a weak military. A vicious cycle developed: civilians preferred a weak military for fear that it would take political power, but then gave it missions it could not possibly fulfill because of lack of resources. Not until 1997 did the Colombian Army, for example, acquire an aviation wing.^[61]

• Knowledgeable analysts say...that it is nearly impossible for a conventional army to win against a guerrilla war of sabotage; a ratio of 10 soldiers to each guerrilla would be necessary, and in 2002 the army had only 130,000 soldiers, 30,000 of whom were well trained in counter-insurgency warfare.^[62]
• Salvatore Mancuso, military chief of the AUC, alleged that 35% of senators and congresspeople who won seats in the March [2002] parliamentary elections were close to the paras and represented their viewpoints.^[63]

Paramilitary and Guerrilla funding

• Between 55 to 70 percent of the guerrilla war chest comes from extortion and protection of drug activities, according to former Colombia Defense Minister Rafael Pardo Rueda.^[64]
• In 2000 former AUC leader Carlos Castaño Gil asked how he bankrolled the force of paramilitary gunman he commanded, said "drug trafficing and drug traffickers probably finance 70%. The rest come largely from extortion."^[65]

Statistics: Colombia Economy and poverty

• Since 1999, the Colombia economy has gone into the deepest recession since the 1930s.^[66]
• The top 5% of Colombians earn more than 30 times that earned by the bottom 5%.^[67]

Statistics: Plan Colombia

• As of August, 2004, the US has 400 military personnel and 400 civilian contractors in Colombia.^[68]
• As of August, 2004, the US had spent $3 billion in Colombia, more than 75% of it on military aid. Before the Iraq war, Colombia was the third largest recipent of US aid only after Egypt and Israel.^{[69] [70]}
• In 1999, at the inception of Plan Colombia, the World Bank stated that "more than half of Colombians [were] living in poverty: the proportion of poor [has] returned to its 1988 level, after having declined by 20 percentage points between 1978 and 1995." The mid-1990s recession contributed to "a rise in inequality, a decline in macroeconomic performance, and a doubling in unemployment."...In 1990, the ratio of income between the poorest and richest 10 per cent was 40-to-one. Following a decade of economic restructuring, this ratio had climbed to 80-to-one in the year 2000.^[71]

Notes

February 26 is the 57th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... February 26 is the 57th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... February 26 is the 57th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... February 26 is the 57th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... February 26 is the 57th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

See also

• Colombian diaspora
• Alliance for Progress
• Plan Colombia
• Movies depicting Colombia

Colombian Diaspora: refers to the thousands of colombian people who have left the country looking for better quality of life or to the people who left Colombia after security problems with Drug-dealers, Paramilitary groups or Guerrilla groups. ... The Alliance for Progress initiated by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 aimed to establish economic cooperation between North and South America. ... Plan Colombia is a controversial initiative aimed at resolving the ongoing, fifty-year civil war in Colombia. ... This is a list of films depicting Colombia or specific aspects of it, such as the illegal drug trade or its internal conflict. ...

External links

• "Background Note: Colombia." U.S. Department of State. URL accessed on February 11, 2006.
• "Q&A: Colombia's civil conflict." BBC. URL accessed on February 24, 2006.
• "Colombia Program." Center for International Policy. URL accessed on February 24, 2006.

• "Information about the combatants." Center for International Policy. URL accessed on February 24, 2006.

• "Colombian Army website." URL accessed on February 24, 2006. (In Spanish and English)
• "Colombian President's Office." URL accessed on February 24, 2006. (In Spanish and English)
• "Indigenous Community in Colombia Fears Start of "Dirty War." Democracy Now!. URL accessed on February 24, 2006. Guests: Ezequiel Vitonas, former mayor of Toribio, and Manuel Rozental, human rights activist. Interviewers: Juan Gonzalez and Amy Goodman. Segment available in transcript and via streaming real audio, 128k streaming Real Video or MP3 download.
• "Different Views of Colombian Territory." URL accessed on February 24, 2006. Maps of the conflict.
• "El Tiempo - Newspaper." URL accessed on February 24, 2006. (in Spanish)
• "Evolution of the Colombian Civil War." Paul Wolf. URL accessed on February 24, 2006. (collection of declassified U.S. documents online)
• "AUC Official Website." URL accessed on February 24, 2006. (in Spanish)
• "FARC website." URL accessed on February 24, 2006. (in Spanish, English, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and German)
• "Colombia - Insurgency." Global Security. URL accessed on February 24, 2006.
• "Colombia." Human Rights Watch. URL accessed on February 24, 2006.
• "Civil War? The Language of Conflict in Colombia." Ideas for Peace Foundation. URL accessed on February 24, 2006. (PDF)
• "Information about Colombia." From three books on Colombia (Inside Colombia: Drugs, Democracy, and War; Colombia: Inside the Labyrinth; Walking Ghosts: Murder and Guerrilla Politics in Colombia). URL accessed on February 25, 2006. Photos, statistics, graphs, and maps
• Plan Colombia by By Carmen Guhn-Knight
• "The Peace Village San José Must Live." SOS San Jose. URL accessed on February 24, 2006. (in German and English)
• Azcarate, Camilo A. (March 1999). "Psychosocial Dynamics of the Armed Conflict in Colombia". Online Journal of Peace and Conflict Resolution. Extenstive explanation of Colombia's past peace talks and suggestions for future negotiations
• "Solutions to Escape the Conflict's Impasse." National Human Development Report 2003. URL accessed on February 23, 2006. Extensive ideas on solutions to the Colombia conflict
• "Colombia 2005 Report." UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. URL accessed on February 24, 2006. (Spanish and English)
• "Washington Office on Latin America." URL accessed on February 24, 2006.
• "Why the End of the Cold War Doesn't Matter: the US War of Terror in Colombia." Bristol University Politics Department. URL accessed on February 27, 2006. by Doug Stokes
• Red Resistencia

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References and Further Reading

• Bushnell, David (1993). The Making of Modern Colombia, a Nation in spite of itself. University of California Press. 0520082893.
• Cuellar, Francisco Ramírez; Aviva Chomsky. The Profits of Extermination. 1567513220.
• Dudley, Steven (January, 2004). Walking Ghosts: Murder and Guerrilla Politics in Colombia. Routledge. 041593303X. 256 pages
• Kirk, Robin. More Terrible than Death: Massacres, Drugs, and America's War in Colombia. 288 pages. PublicAffairs. 1st ed. edition, January, 2003. ISBN 1586481045.
• Murillo, Mario and Jesus Rey Avirama. Colombia and the United States: War, Terrorism and Destablization. 160 pages. Seven Stories Press, September 1, 2003. ISBN 1583226060.
• Palacios, Marco. Entre la legitimidad y la violencia: Colombia 1875-1994. Norma, 1995.
• Pardo Rueda, Rafael La historia de las guerras. Ediciones B-Vergara, 2004. ISBN 9589740553
• Pizarro Leongómez, Eduardo. Las Farc: de la autodefensa a la combinación de todas las formas de lucha. Universidad Nacional, 1991.
• Ruiz, Bert. The Colombian Civil War. 271 pages. McFarland & Company. October 1, 2001. ISBN 0786410841.
• Safford, Frank and Marco Palacios. Colombia: Fragmented Land, Divided Society. 404 pages. Oxford University Press, July 1, 2001). ISBN 019504617X.
• Stokes, Doug; Noam Chomsky (Foreword) (2005). America's Other War : Terrorizing Colombia. Zed Books. 1842775472.
• Taussig, Michael. Law in a Lawless Land: Diary of a Limpieza. 256 pages. New Press. November 1, 2003. ISBN 1565848632.
• Tirado Mejía, Alvaro (Ed.). Nueva historia de Colombia. Planeta, 1989.
• Zahller, Trina (2002). "Prospects for Peace:The Projected Impact of Plan Colombia". McNair Scholars Project University of Montana 2002. [PDF file]