This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ COUNTER-INSURGENCY IN COLOMBIA THE ORIGINS AND EVOLUTION OF A MILITARY STRATEGIC TRADITION Delgado, Jorge Eduardo Awarding institution: King's College London The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT Unless another licence is stated on the immediately following page this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). 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Oct. 2021 COUNTER-INSURGENCY IN COLOMBIA: THE ORIGINS AND EVOLUTION OF A MILITARY STRATEGIC TRADITION By Jorge Eduardo Delgado Supervised by Professor Michael Rainsborough A thesis presented for the degree of Department of War Studies Doctor of Philosophy in War Studies King’s College London May 2016 1 ABSTRACT This research proposes to examine the composition and evolution of the Colombian military’s approach to counter-insurgency since the origins of the internal armed conflict that affects the country. Following the lineaments of strategic theory, it will endeavour to understand how the military came to view the utilisation of armed force, amongst other means, since the beginning of the armed conflict. To construct the Colombian military strategic tradition, it will attempt to identify its value–system, that is, the ideological precepts, motivational patterns and assumptions that throughout the years have influenced the military’s use of the main instruments at its disposal. It will explore how these diverse factors have shaped different understandings of the character of the conflict, views of its political conduct, and of the role and limits of armed force, amongst other issues. This analysis will allow to establish lines of continuity and change in Colombian military thinking. In this respect, the research argues that the formative years of the Colombian strategic tradition during the 1960s, and in particular the influence of counter-insurgency thinking, has been fundamental in shaping the military’s different, and at times conflicting, judgements about the conflict, the nature of their enemies and the limits of armed force during the past 20 years of escalation of violence in Colombia. Overall, the research shows that the inherent tensions visible in Colombian military thinking have undermined the formulation of strategy, that is, the translation of means into political ends. WORD COUNT: 98,893. 2 ‘Tell me something, old friend: why are you fighting?’ ‘What other reason could there be?’ Colonel Gerineldo Marquez answered. ‘For the great Liberal party.’ ‘You're lucky because you know why,’ he answered. ‘As far as I'm concerned, I've come to realize only just now that I'm fighting because of pride.’ ‘That's bad,’ Colonel Gerineldo Márquez said. Colonel Aureliano Buendia was amused at his alarm. ‘Naturally,’ he said. ‘But in any case, it's better than not knowing why you're fighting.’ He looked him in the eyes and added with a smile: ‘Or fighting, like you, for something that doesn't have any meaning for anyone.’ Gabriel Garcia Márquez - One Hundred Years of Solitude. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................ 5 LIST OF ACRONYMS .................................................................................................................... 6 LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................................... 8 DRAMATIS PERSONAE ............................................................................................................... 10 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 14 I. THE COLOMBIAN MILITARY AND ITS FIGHT AGAINST THE FARC INSURGENCY IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ............................................................................................................................ 37 II. THE BASIS OF THE COLOMBIAN MILITARY’S STRATEGIC TRADITION ..................................... 84 III. LA VIOLENCIA AND THE ORIGINS OF THE COLOMBIAN MILITARY STRATEGIC TRADITION, 1948-1958 .............................................................................................................................. 133 IV. CHANGES IN COLOMBIAN MILITARY THINKING – MODERNISATION, UNCONVENTIONAL WAR AND THE TRANSITION TO COUNTER-INSURGENCY, 1958 -1962................................................ 203 V. PRESCRIBING COUNTER-INSURGENCY - THE COLOMBIAN MILITARY AND THE ORIGINS OF FARC, 1962-1966 .................................................................................................................. 245 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 276 APPENDICES ............................................................................................................................ 285 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 288 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Professor Michael Rainsborough for his guidance and support in furthering my intellectual development during these four years of the PhD process. I also take the opportunity to thank Professor Douglas Porch for his constant encouragement and for being the original source of inspiration of this research project. I would also like to thank my parents and my sisters in Colombia, as well as my now extensive family in Greece and France for their unstinting support, confidence and love. Finally, I would like to thank Myrto, whose unconditional love and support were fundamental to bring this project to fruition. 5 LIST OF ACRONYMS Acronyms in text AUC: Autodefensas Unidad de Colombia COIN: Counter-insurgency CoS: Chief of Staff Colar: Colombian Army Colmil: Colombian Military DAS: Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad DoD: Department of Defense DoS: Department of State DSP: Democratic Security Policy ELN: Ejército de Liberación Nacional EPL: Ejército Popular de Liberación FARC: Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia FUDRA: Rapid Deployment Force – Colombian Army GOC: Government of Colombia MAAG: Military Assistance and Advisory Group MAP: Military Assistance Program MTT: Mobile Training Team MILGRP: United States Military Group MOEC: Movimiento Obrero Estudiantil Campesino MoD: Ministry of Defence OAS: Organization of Amercan Staes SIC: Servicio de Inteligencia Colombiano Acronyms in footnotes AGN: Archivo General de la Nación, Bogotá APR: Archivo Presidencia de la Republica, Bogotá 6 DDRS: Declassified Documents Reference System DNSA: Digital National Security Archive FBIS: Foreign Broadcast Information Service FRUS: Foreign Relations of the United States HIA: Hoover Institution Archives NSA GWU: National Security Archive, George Washington University – Washington DC. NARA: National Archives and Records Administration, College Park - Maryland NAR Kew: National Archives, Kew Gardens n.a: No author n.d: No date n.p: No page OSA: Office South American Affairs, Department of State s.n: Publisher unknown 7 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 : Map of Colombia .................................................................................................................... 9 Figure 2: Oscillations in Colombian Military Thinking ....................................................................... 85 Figure 3 Distribution of 'National Territories' ca.1959 ....................................................................... 106 Figure 4: Estimated Number and Size of Bandit Gangs active in the Coffee-growing departments in 1962 .................................................................................................................................................... 285 Figure 5 : Average structure of the Colombian Army ........................................................................ 285 Figure 6: Progression of Illegal Armed Groups in Colombia since 1948 ........................................... 286 Figure 7: Colombian Army Doctrinal Manifesto 1962 ....................................................................... 287 8 Figure 1 : Map of Colombia Source: Instituto Geográfico Agustin Codazzi (Creative Commons) 9 DRAMATIS PERSONAE Acheson, Dean, United States Secretary of State from 1949 to 1953. Ayerbe Chaux, General Gerardo, Army CoS from 1965 to 1966; thereafter chief of the Colmil. Minister of