DOCSLIB.ORG

Moving Beyond Easy Wins: Colombia's Borders

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

MOVING BEYOND EASY WINS: COLOMBIA’S BORDERS Latin America Report N°40 – 31 October 2011 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................. i I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1 II. VULNERABLE BORDERS ............................................................................................. 2 A. CENTRIFUGAL CONFLICT ............................................................................................................. 2 B. HUMANITARIAN CRISIS ................................................................................................................ 4 C. DIPLOMATIC REPERCUSSIONS ...................................................................................................... 6 III. A FRESH START: THE SANTOS AGENDA ............................................................... 7 A. RECONSTRUCTING DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS ................................................................................ 7 B. SPURRING SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ...................................................................... 8 C. REVIEWING CONSOLIDATION POLICY .......................................................................................... 9 IV. THE ECUADORIAN BORDER .................................................................................... 10 A. CONFLICT DYNAMICS ................................................................................................................ 10 B. HUMANITARIAN SITUATION ....................................................................................................... 12 C. SHIFTING REFUGEE POLICIES ..................................................................................................... 14 V. THE VENEZUELAN BORDER .................................................................................... 17 A. CONFLICT DYNAMICS ................................................................................................................ 17 B. HUMANITARIAN SITUATION ....................................................................................................... 20 C. INVISIBLE REFUGEES ................................................................................................................. 21 VI. MOVING BEYOND EASY WINS ................................................................................ 23 A. STRENGTHENING STATE PRESENCE ............................................................................................ 23 B. IMPROVING THE HUMANITARIAN SITUATION ............................................................................. 26 C. BUILDING JOINT PROBLEM-SOLVING CAPACITY ........................................................................ 27 VII. CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................. 29 APPENDICES A. MAP OF COLOMBIA .......................................................................................................................... 30 B. MAP OF COLOMBIA-ECUADOR BORDER ........................................................................................... 31 C. MAP OF COLOMBIA-VENEZUELA BORDER ........................................................................................ 32 D. GLOSSARY OF TERMS ....................................................................................................................... 33 E. ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP .................................................................................... 35 F. CRISIS GROUP REPORTS AND BRIEFINGS ON LATIN AMERICA SINCE 2008 ....................................... 36 G. CRISIS GROUP BOARD OF TRUSTEES ................................................................................................ 37 Latin America Report N°40 31 October 2011 MOVING BEYOND EASY WINS: COLOMBIA’S BORDERS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS Improved relations between Colombia and its neighbours illegal armed groups in both neighbouring countries. Se- have not alleviated the plight of border communities. For curity cooperation is improving. The Colombian Congress fifteen years, porous borders that offer strategic advantages has passed a constitutional reform to redistribute royalties to illegal armed groups and facilitate extensive illicit econ- from oil and mining concessions, a measure that should in- omies have exposed them to an intense armed conflict that crease funds for public investment in many peripheral re- is made worse by the widespread absence of public insti- gions that currently do not benefit from that bonanza. In an tutions. The warfare triggered a humanitarian emergency effort to produce tangible results fast, the foreign ministry and worsened relations especially with Ecuador and Vene- is leading implementation of projects aimed at boosting zuela, the most affected neighbours. Spurring development social and economic development in border municipalities. in the periphery and reconstructing diplomatic ties are pri- orities for President Juan Manuel Santos. A little over a year The Santos agenda represents a substantial policy shift, but into his term, his new policies have paid undoubted diplo- as the conflict continues unabated in the border regions and matic and some security dividends. But the hard part is still has increasing repercussions on Venezuelan and Ecuado- ahead. Efforts to improve the humanitarian situation and rian soil, problems remain. Three sets of issues need to be build civilian state capacity must be scaled up, tasks that, tackled. First, more must be done to increase the civilian amid what is again a partially worsening conflict, have been state presence in the destitute border areas. Militarisation neglected. Otherwise, pacifying the troubled border regions of the borders has failed to deliver durable security gains, will remain a chimera, and their dynamics will continue to and efforts by security forces to increase their standing fuel Colombia’s conflict. with local communities continue to stumble over human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian Border regions were drawn into the armed conflict by the law. With dynamics along their borders increasingly resem- mid-1990s, when they became main theatres of operations bling the situation in Colombia, similar problems are fast for illegal armed groups, often financed by drug trafficking. emerging in Ecuador and Venezuela. The security forces of A crackdown under Álvaro Uribe, Santos’s predecessor, all three countries must play by the book and focus more brought only elusive gains there. The illegal armed groups on citizen security, and their civilian authorities must take have been pushed deeper into the periphery but not defeat- the lead in providing services. ed. Coca cultivation and drug trafficking remain signifi- cant. Violence has come down in most regions, but remains Secondly, more effective responses to the severe humani- higher along the borders than in the nation as a whole, and tarian problems are needed. Colombia continues to strug- security has begun to deteriorate in some zones, as New gle to attend to internally displaced persons (IDPs) and Illegal Armed Groups and paramilitary successors (NIAGs) other victims of the conflict, a large number of whom extend their operations, and guerrillas gain new strength. cross the borders in search of protection. But protecting The Uribe approach also carried high diplomatic costs. Re- them has not been a priority in Venezuela, leaving an es- lations with the neighbours became toxic over a 2008 Co- timated 200,000 highly vulnerable. This contrasts with lombian airstrike on a camp of the main rebel group, FARC, the response in Ecuador, which has recognised and pro- located just inside Ecuador and over allegations that Ven- vided documentation to some 54,000 Colombian refu- ezuela was harbouring guerrillas. gees. But Ecuador has tightened its policy since January 2011, exposing such individuals to new risks. Govern- Fixing the border problems has been a priority for Santos. ments are hesitant to give more weight to a potentially di- He has moved quickly to restore diplomatic relations with visive issue in bilateral relations, but looking the other way Ecuador and Venezuela, and bilateral platforms are in an will only make matters worse over the long run. early stage of either being revived or created. There is a strong political commitment on all sides to preserve the Thirdly, efficient forums to solve problems jointly and pro- restored friendships, despite the continuing presence of mote border development are still lacking. This partly re- Moving Beyond Easy Wins: Colombia’s Borders Crisis Group Latin America Report N°40, 31 October 2011 Page ii flects the neighbours’ reluctance to acknowledge any re- 6. Prioritise infrastructure development that responds to sponsibility for a conflict they consider a domestic matter the mobility needs of local communities and is the of Colombia but that in fact is sustained by transnational subject of appropriate advance consultation with in- criminal networks and is increasingly creating victims on digenous and Afro-Colombian groups and local grass- all sides of the borders. The high diplomatic volatility has roots organisations. also been damaging efforts to institutionalise cooperation 7. Mitigate risks associated with natural resource extrac- that needs to be grounded in buy-in and participation of lo- tion in border
Recommended publications
  • Political Culture of Democracy in Colombia and in the Americas, 2012

    Political Culture of Democracy in Colombia and in the Americas, 2012

    The Political Culture of Democracy in Colombia and the Americas, 2012: Towards Equality of Opportunity Juan Carlos Rodríguez-Raga, Ph.D. Universidad de los Andes Mitchell A. Seligson, Ph.D. Scientific Coordinator and Series Editor Vanderbilt University This study was made possible with support from the American people delivered through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the exclusive responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of USAID or the U.S. government. December 2012 1 Table of Contents Table of Contents Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... iii Tables .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... vii Figures .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... ix Preface ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ xv Prologue: Background to the Study ..............................................................................................................................................................
  • Drug Trafficking and the Presidential Family in Venezuela: the Narco

    Drug Trafficking and the Presidential Family in Venezuela: the Narco

    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Capstones Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism Fall 12-16-2016 Drug Trafficking and the esidentialPr Family in Venezuela: The Narco Nephews Daniela Castro Cuny Graduate School of Journalism How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gj_etds/337 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] At around 9:30 in the morning, two young men from a South American country enter a big wooden-wall room, from a side door. Today is the day of the verdict of their trial. They are shaved and well dressed. Tall windows offer a unique view of New York City in a cold November day. In the back of the room are two rows of five wooden benches for the attendees, 16 seats on a platform to the right for the jury, and a big U.S flag stands in the left corner of the room. High ceilings and a green carpet completes the picture of a courtroom that seems to be taken from a Hollywood film. The two men smile, greet their six attorneys — each one is represented by three lawyers from the two of the best law firms of the U.S (Boies, Schiller & Flexner and Sidley Austin LLP) — and take a seat. “You never see this,” says Elizabeth Williams, courtroom artist for more than 30 years. “You see federal defenders representing these people… generally (…) I mean unless these people have money and these two have access to money.” Minutes later, the judge, a white-haired man wearing a black gown enters the courtroom.
  • Evaluation of the Commission of the European Union's Co-Operation With

    Evaluation of the Commission of the European Union's Co-Operation With

    Evaluation of the Commission of the European Union’s co-operation with Colombia Final Report October 2012 Evaluation for the European Commission Framework contract for Multi-country thematic and regional/country-level strategy evaluation studies and synthesis in the area of external co- operation Italy Germany LOT 4: Evaluation of EC geographic co-operation strategies for Aide à la Décision Économique Belgium countries/regions in Asia, Latin America, the Southern Mediterranean and Eastern Europe (the area of the New Neighbourhood Policy) Ref.: EuropeAid/122888/C/SER/Multi Request for Services: 2011/263-508 PARTICIP GmbH Germany Evaluation of the Commission of the Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik Germany European Union’s co-operation with Colombia Overseas Development Institute, United Kingdom European Institute for Asian Studies Belgium FINAL REPORT Instituto Complutense de Estudios Internacionales Spain A consortium of Particip-ADE–DRN-DIE–ODI-EIAS- October 2012 ICEI c/o DRN, leading company: Headquarters Via Ippolito Nievo 62 00153 Rome, Italy Tel: +39-06-581-6074 Fax: +39-06-581-6390 This evaluation was carried out by [email protected] BELGIUM OFFICE Rue du Tabellion 64 1050 Brussels, Belgium Tel: +32-2-536-1390 Tel: +32-2-536-1391 Fax: +32-2-706-5442 [email protected] The evaluation study was carried out by: Josyane Bouchier (TL), Alejandro Alvarez Morato and Markus Schultze-Kraft. The team was assisted by Milena Leoni. The evaluation was managed by María del Carmen Bueno Barriga. The evaluation was managed by the Evaluation Unit of DG DEVCO. The authors accept sole responsibility for this report, drawn up on behalf of the Commission of the European Communities.
  • Colombia's Borders

    Colombia's Borders

    MOVING BEYOND EASY WINS: COLOMBIA’S BORDERS Latin America Report N°40 – 31 October 2011 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................. i I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1 II. VULNERABLE BORDERS ............................................................................................. 2 A. CENTRIFUGAL CONFLICT ............................................................................................................. 2 B. HUMANITARIAN CRISIS ................................................................................................................ 4 C. DIPLOMATIC REPERCUSSIONS ...................................................................................................... 6 III. A FRESH START: THE SANTOS AGENDA ............................................................... 7 A. RECONSTRUCTING DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS ................................................................................ 7 B. SPURRING SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ...................................................................... 8 C. REVIEWING CONSOLIDATION POLICY .......................................................................................... 9 IV. THE ECUADORIAN BORDER .................................................................................... 10 A. CONFLICT DYNAMICS ...............................................................................................................
  • Colombia: Issues for Congress

    Colombia: Issues for Congress

    Colombia: Issues for Congress June S. Beittel Analyst in Latin American Affairs March 18, 2011 Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov RL32250 CRS Report for Congress Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Colombia: Issues for Congress Summary President Juan Manuel Santos took office in August 2010 in Colombia after winning 69% of the vote in a runoff election held in June 2010. Santos defeated Colombian Green Party candidate Antanas Mockus. In his first months in office, President Santos has taken the country in a new direction, building on the accomplishments of his predecessor, Álvaro Uribe, who served for two terms, pursuing social, economic and political reforms in a program he calls “democratic prosperity.” Santos has strengthened relations with neighboring countries, including Venezuela and Ecuador, which had been strained under Uribe. Early indications are that he wants to broaden the scope of U.S.-Colombian relations to include issues such as energy and technology. Former President Uribe pursued an aggressive plan to address Colombia’s decades long conflict with the country’s leftist guerrillas and rightist paramilitary groups and to reduce the production of illicit drugs. Uribe is credited with restoring public security and creating a stable environment for investment. In recent years, Colombia, in close cooperation with the United States through a strategy known as Plan Colombia, has made significant progress in reestablishing government control over much of its territory, combating drug trafficking and terrorist activities, and reducing poverty. The improving security conditions and the weakening of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas are evidence that the strategy is working, according to supporters.