NOTICIAS LATIN AMERICAN PROGRAM NEWSLETTER SPRING 2004 Conflict and Peace in Colombia n September 22, 2003, the Latin American Program, the Fundación OIdeas para la Paz in Bogotá, and the Kellogg Institute for International Studies of the University of Notre Dame sponsored a confer- ence in Washington on “Conflict and Peace in Colombia: Consequences and Perspectives for the Future.” The objective was to evaluate the political, economic, and military policies set in motion during the first year of President Álvaro Uribe’s administration, the social and humani- tarian consequences of the conflict, as well as long-term strategies for achieving peace. In a keynote address, Alto Comisionado para la Paz Luis Carlos Restrepo Ramírez reiterated the government’s commitment to “democratic secu- rity,” based on the strengthening of democratic Clockwise from top left: Rodrigo Pardo, Édgar Forero, Pilar Gaitán, Carl Meacham, and High Commissioner for Peace Luis Carlos authority and the establishment of the rule of Restrepo Ramírez law throughout the national territory. He under- scored President Uribe’s willingness to seek the group’s eventual demobilization and disarma- peace with all armed actors, within the frame- ment. He also said that the government remains work of the law, Colombia’s Constitution, and committed to a process of dialogue with the international treaties to which Colombia was guerrillas of ELN, which unilaterally suspended party. Restrepo refered to the government’s talks in December 2002. request to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan Restrepo discussed at length the peace to lend his good offices to a peace process with process with the Autodefensas Unidas de the FARC guerrillas, based on a cease-fire and Colombia (AUC), defending controversial draft Conflict and Peace in Colombia 1-3 Seminars on Mexico’s Political System 11-12 Analyzing Citizenship in Latin American Democracies 3-4 Hemispheric Security: The View from South America 12-13 MERCOSUR and the Creation of the Free Trade Area of 4-5 Combating Child Labor In Brazil 13-14 the Americas The Citizen Security Action Research Project 14 Seminar of Mexican and U.S. Journalists in Tijuana 5-7 Argentina-U.S. Bilateral Relations: An Historical 7-8 Micro Finance and Social Rights: Towards 15 Perspective and Future Challenges Better Citizenship? Changes in Cuban Society from the 1990s to the Present 8-10 Recent Publications 16-17 INSIDE Economic Orthodoxy and the Lula Administration 10 Staff Notes 18 NOTICIAS legislation (“Ley de Alternatividad Penal”) Gómez of the OAS Inter-American Commission empowering the president to request the suspen- on Human Rights detailed a number of the most sion of judicial sanctions against members of illegal serious human rights abuses committed by actors armed groups that had committed serious human in the armed conflict, including the recruitment of rights abuses. He insisted that principles of truth, minors, the victimization of vulnerable groups, justice, and reparation would inform the peace and the targeting of social, political, trade union, process, and that decisions regarding suspensions and human rights leaders. Referring to the Ley de of prison sentences would be made by the presi- Alternatividad Penal, she cautioned against dent on a case-by-case basis. amnesty laws that impede effective and thorough In a discussion of the political, security, and prosecution of human rights violations. Caroline economic policies of the Uribe government, Moser of the Overseas Development Institute in Rodrigo Pardo, deputy director of El Tiempo, noted London emphasized “bottom up” perspectives on the president’s consistently high approval ratings conflict resolution, distinguishing between politi- (upwards of 70 percent). This popularity was based cal violence and the more pervasive economic and in part on a new style of political leadership and on social violence experienced by local communities. concrete achievements in the security field, includ- Arguing that micro-level trust and social capital is ing a notable reduction in kidnappings, massacres, as important for sustaining peace as are political and homicides. Pardo underscored several future and economic factors, she argued for capacity challenges for Uribe, including maintaining a cen- strengthening initiatives at the local level, even if trist political position and reviving the economy. national level peace processes remain paralyzed. Alfredo Rangel,president of the Fundación A final panel considered future perspectives on Seguridad y Democracia, also noted improvements conflict, peace, and bilateral U.S.-Colombian rela- in citizens’ perception of security, citing such meas- tions. Hernando Gómez Buendía, coordinator of the ures as increases in the defense budget and in the National Human Development Report on size of the armed forces and police. He warned, Colombia for the United Nations Development however, against exaggerating the advances against Program, underscored the difficulty in measuring the guerrillas, which are not yet consolidated and the costs of conflict, given different statistics and may be difficult to sustain. Eduardo Lora,principal methodologies employed by various institutions. adviser to the Research Department of the Inter- The Human Development Report nonetheless dis- American Development Bank, underscored a host cusses three kinds of costs: victimization (including of problems at the macroeconomic level, including kidnappings, displacement, massacres, and deaths in weak decision-making authority by the central combat); direct costs, including life expectancy, lev- government, increases in public spending, and a els of education, and income as a percentage of generous but inefficient pension system. He argued GDP; and indirect costs, including the correlation that interest rates and the level of public expendi- between drug cultivation and the intensity of con- ture were the two most critical variables in stabi- flict, the restriction of democratic rights, and the lization policy. impact of the conflict on Colombia’s international In exploring the social and human costs of insertion. Juan Manuel Santos,president of the Colombia’s conflict, Édgar Forero, special advisor Fundación Buen Gobierno, outlined three factors to the United Nations High Commissioner for that will impact the future of the armed conflict: the Refugees in Bogotá, explained how the phenom- correlation of military forces and its impact on the enon of displacement has grown more complex, intentions of the parties to the conflict; the political in that armed actors have opted for permanent dis- legitimacy and popular support enjoyed by the gov- placement of target populations in order to control ernment; and the nature of the country’s interna- territory and illicit economies based on drugs and tional alliances. Arguing that the conditions for a arms trafficking. He also emphasized the growing negotiated settlement are not currently present, he gap between the number of persons forcibly dis- outlined several paths to achieve it, including a pro- placed by conflict (between 2 and 3 million peo- longed stalemate that exhausts the parties but at a ple) and the resources (both national and interna- tremendous cost to society. Finally, Carl Meacham, tional) devoted to addressing their needs. Verónica professional staff of the U.S. Senate Foreign 2 S PRING 2004 Relations Committee, noted that President Uribe’s ing on social cleavages. Holston success in expanding government control over the and Armony noted that civil dis- national territory has bolstered congressional sup- junction becomes most visible at port for Plan Colombia and the Andean Regional points of broad social inequality, Initiative, which includes Colombia’s neighbors. He manifesting itself through perva- asserted that the U.S. commitment to assisting sive violence, injustice, and Colombia in the arenas of counter-narcotics and impunity. A multi-faceted ap- counter-terrorism is without question; nonetheless, proach, based on both quantita- policies toward Colombia must be continually eval- tive and qualitative analyses, is uated, as the U.S. Senate, while encouraged by the necessary to adequately assess citi- progress thus far, remains far from satisfied. zenship in Latin America and to A publication based on the conference, Conflicto address behavior such as clien- y Paz en Colombia: Consecuencias y Perspectivas para el telism, patronage, and the active Futuro (Alfaomega, 2004) is available from the exercise of rights. Similarly, given Frances Hagopian Latin American Program. the accepted view that the “third wave” of democracy has led to an increase in public insecurity, incorporating social Analyzing Citizenship in phenomena in the study of citizenship becomes Latin American Democracies even more necessary. In his comments, University of Toronto political scientist Joseph H. Carens argued Citizenship in Latin America is in crisis. This was for the creation of more constructive dialogue the overwhelming consensus of scholars at the con- between political theorists and scholars of compara- ference “Analyzing Citizenship in Latin American tive politics within the academic community. Democracies,” held on November 14, 2003, to In discussing challenges for citizenship, Philip identify the current challenges in the development Oxhorn of McGill University maintained that and study of citizenship in Latin America. democracy in Latin America has been shaped by Frances Hagopian of the University of Notre authoritarian-influenced neopluralism—a