’s Troubled Past

by Troy J. Sacquety

Named for Christopher Columbus, though territories that make up the modern day states of Ven- he never set foot there, Colombia is a land long wracked ezuela and Ecuador broke away from Gran Columbia. by internal conflict, banditry, and insurgent warfare. It After a series of minor internal clashes in the nine- has been called a “nation in spite of itself.”1 The United teenth century, the country underwent two major civil States has been involved in Colombian affairs since the wars in the twentieth. Both were caused by differences turn of the last century. The relationship morphed from between the two primary political factions, the Liberals being an obstacle to U.S. government policy—when the and the Conservatives. These wars were the War of a government thwarted U.S. plans to build a canal through Thousand Days and (The Violence). the Colombian province of Panama—to becoming an La Violencia (1948–1966) claimed somewhere between asset during the Korean War. The Colombia of today is 100,000 and 250,000 lives and ranks as one of the bloodiest an important American partner in the Global War on wars in the Western Hemisphere.2 This period of domes- Terror and in its war on drugs. To understand Colombia, tic turmoil set the tone for Colombia for the remainder of and U.S. policy involved, one must know a little about the twentieth century and has carried forward into the its history. Then, the current situation can be placed in new century. Prior to La Violencia, there were underly- context. The purpose of this article is to provide a brief ing political and economic tensions between all classes historical overview. of Colombian society, but especially so with the peas- Although long inhabited by ants. Between 1946 and 1947, native groups, the first perma- the working class staged more nent European settlement in than 600 demonstrations and Colombia was in 1525. To put organized strikes.3 In May 1947, this into perspective, James- violence broke out a when some town, Virginia—the first perma- 1,500 striking workers were nent English settlement in what arrested. When government is now the —was troops moved in to repress the founded eighty-two years later agitators, 14,000 were killed in in 1607. Colombia’s capital city the subsequent confrontation.4 of Bogotá was founded in 1538. However, the main escalation Independence from Spain was in La Violencia occurred after Lib- proclaimed in 1813, although it eral leader Jorgé Eliecer Gaitan took several years of bitter fight- was assassinated on 7 February ing for this to become reality. In 1948. Gaitan was a populist with Simón Bolivar, “The 1822, the United States was one of strong support among union The 7 February 1948 Liberator,” led the the first nations to recognize the members and the lower classes. assassination of popular army that wrested new state of “Gran Colombia,” After his murder, large segments Liberal leader Jorgé Colombia from Spanish made up of the modern coun- of the urban population filled Eliecer Gaitan prompted control. He was also tries of Colombia, Ecuador, Pan- the streets in protest. A mas- the Bogotazo, two-days the first president of ama, and Venezuela, and parts sive rebellion, referred to as the of riots in Bogotá. His the Republic of Gran of neighboring Brazil, Guyana, Bogotazo, broke out in the capital. assassination also Colombia, made up of signaled the start of La and Peru. Eight years later, the Then it spread into the provinc- modern-day Colombia, Violencia, Colombia’s Ecuador, Panama, and bloody eighteen-year Venezuela. civil war.  Veritas Arctic Ocean

Greenland

Canada 1899–1903: The War of a es, where the Conservatives had already formed Thousand Days and the armed groups to handle the insurrectionists. The Conservative-led government action forced Panama Canal much of the rural opposition to flee their homes. Many armed themselves and formed bands for Colombia’s first twentieth century civil war was fought self-defense. Several of these early bands adopt- between the Conservatives and the Liberals. Both parties repre- ed tenets of communist and socialist philosophy. sented the interests of elites and had only minor differences. The They became the basis for some of today’s insur- Liberal Party was composed primarily of small coffee plantation gent groups.5 owners and merchants of the upper middle class who favored In 1957, former President Alberto Lleras Camar- decreased government control over go effected a power-sharing agreement between the economy and greater decentral- United States A t l a n t i c the Liberals and the Conservatives. This arrange- ization of government. The Conser- O c e a n ment, called the National Front, alternated the vatives, led by large landowners, Cuba presidency between the two leading parties every advocated a strong central gov- four-years for the next sixteen years. The National ernment. The Conservatives were Mexico Belize Honduras Front also dramatically changed how the armed heavily influenced by the Catholic Guatemala El Salvador Nicaragua forces in Colombia operated. For the first time, Church which, in addition to its Costa Rica Venezuela the police, who had largely been responsible for religious nature, was also a power- Guyana Panama P a c i f i c Colombia SurinameFrench fighting the insurgent groups, were placed under ful financial institution. The Con- O c e a n Guiana the control of the Ministry of Defense. This meant servatives had gained power and Ecuador that the Army, that had the mission of territorial excluded the Liberals from gov- Brazil Peru defense, and which had managed to stay out of ernment. Their poor fiscal policies internal conflicts, was given the authority and caused high inflation and a destabi- 6 mission to pacify the troubled areas. lized economy. Compounded with low coffee prices, the LiberalsBolivia However, the National Front was a pact only resorted to arms to overthrow the government. After suffering between mainstream Liberals and Conservatives. setbacks fighting conventionally, the Liberals changed tactics. Paraguay

Communist and socialist groups and radical Lib- Establishing the modus operandi still prevalent in Colombia today,Chile erals had no representation in government. This the Liberals waged a highly destructive unconventional war in condition provoked a return to violence. The civil the rural areas.1 After two years, with both sides weary of the war, Uruguay war moved into an “unofficial” second phase that the Liberals accepted Conservative peace overtures. The final continued until 1966. Another 18,000 people were number of dead was estimated at 100,000.2 But, more importantArgentina- killed during this period.7 ly, the war left the government of Colombia impotent. When the American military assistance to Colombia start- United States supported isthmian separatists in 1903, the Bogo- ed during La Violencia. In 1948, the United States, tá government was unable to prevent Panama’s secession from Colombia, and the majority of Latin American Colombia. The U.S. immediately recognized the new government states signed the Charter of the Organization of of Panama. Both countries then negotiated a treaty that allowed American States (OAS).8 The OAS charter included the United States exclusive rights to build the Panama Canal.3 a mutual defense–assistance protocol. It would be the Korean War that prompted Bogotá to request 1 David Bushnell, The Making of Modern Colombia: A Nation in Spite of Itself (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), 150. training for Colombian military officers in the 2 “Background Note: Colombia,” U.S. Department of State; October 2006, www.state.gov/ United States, and material assistance. Colombia r/pa/ei/bgn/35754.htm; Geoff Simons, Colombia: A Brutal History (London: Saqi Books, was the only Latin American country to offer 2004), 151. armed forces to the UN after the North Koreans 3 Frank Safford and Marco Placios, Colombia: Fragmented Land, Divided Society (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 247–51. invaded the South. In Korea, Colombian Army officers gained valuable experience that they later applied in counter-insurgency operations. By 1955, the first Colombian officers had gradu- ated from the U.S. Army Parachute and Ranger Schools at Fort Benning, Georgia. In 1962, a U.S. Army Special Forces contingent led by Brigadier General William Yarborough came to Colombia on the invitation of President Camargo to make recommendations on how to fight the insurgency.9 Many of these ideas were adopted by the Colom- bian military and incorporated in Plan Lazo, the first national strategy to restore law and order to the countryside.10 The United States contracted to start work on the Pan- In 1964, the Colombian Army attacked the ama Canal in 1904, and it was opened ten years later. The project cost nearly $375 million at the time and 5,609 lives due to illness and construction accidents. Vol. 2 No. 4 9 rural enclave of Marquetalia. There, communist and Lib- lomatic personnel and civilian guests. After being held eral forces had set up an “independent republic” where captive for weeks, the hostages were released unharmed they had originally gathered to weather La Violencia. in exchange for a sum of money, transportation, and the Although the Colombian Army employed new weap- unhindered escape of the kidnappers to Cuba. ons in the assault, including jet fighters and helicopters, By the mid 1980s, M‑19 was Colombia’s second largest most of the rebels escaped the government cordon and insurgent group, behind the FARC. Desperate for fund- fled into the surrounding jungles. The attack at Marqu- ing, M‑19 tried to emulate the etalia drove the disparate groups of radical Liberals and FARC, which was profiting from communists to join together under the leadership of a the drug trade. But unlike the radical former-Liberal guerrilla named Pedro Marín.11 In FARC, M‑19 was not integrated 1966, this semi-united group adopted the name Fuerzas into the drug trade. Assuming Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, better known as the that they would simply pay, FARC. The following year, a second communist-inspired M‑19 decided to kidnap fam- insurgent group, the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) ily members of drug traffickers [National Liberation Army] was for ransom. M‑19 committed formed in the northern region of a grievous error in killing the M‑19 flag Santandar. victims when the narcotraffick- During this period, right- ers were slow in paying. Unwilling to be extorted, the ist paramilitary units began to drug traffickers undertook extreme counter-measures evolve. Colombia has a long his- and formed a band called Muerte a Secuestradores (MAS), tory of “self defense” militias, dat- meaning “Death to Kidnappers,” which received tacit ing to the colonial period when government support. M‑19 suspects captured by the small “armies” were formed to police were turned over to MAS, who tortured them for protect citizens, landowners, information and then killed them. The M‑19 member- In 1966, Pedro Marín, and businesses in rural areas ship was quickly cut in half.15 better known by from guerillas and bandits. In Based on the radical example provided by MAS, other his nom de guerre, Manuel Marulanda, or 1965, the government accorded groups were formed and funded by narcotraffickers to his nickname, Tirofijo them legal status to compensate provide security and to protect their interests. The nar- (“Sureshot”), founded for the lack of police and mili- cotraffickers dealt with their “enemies” ruthlessly. From the Fuerzas Armadas tary forces in outlying regions.12 the mid-1970s into the mid-1980s, the narcotraffickers Revolucionarias de They would later be accused of had increased their business so much that their profits Colombia, better known gross human-rights violations. had mushroomed to billions of dollars. Narcotraffickers as the FARC. The government escalated purchased huge estates in the Colombian countryside the war against the insurgents and selectively used their wealth to gain popular sup- in 1965. President Guillermo port. Thus, the most wealthy and powerful narcotraffick- Valencia declared a national ers became quasi-political figures in their own right. “state of siege.” This gave the In 1984, the Colombian government negotiated a cease- Army “expanded authority” fire with the insurgent groups. Only the ELN refused to to arrest and try civilians for join. The FARC renounced armed struggle and, in 1985, subversive activities.13 Since the started a political party—the Unión Patriótica (UP)—to authorities were broad and gen- compete for representation. The UP easily won fourteen FARC flag eral, the Army interpreted this to national-level political posts as well as numerous provin- include physical suppression of cial and municipal positions. However, within months of strikes, protest marches, and critics of the military, who being elected, several of the UP legislators were assas- in their estimation became threats to law and order.14 sinated. In the next several years, hundreds of UP sup- In essence, the government had granted the Army carte porters were systematically murdered. These excesses blanche authority to use whatever force was necessary to destroyed the cease-fire and renewed the violence. suppress the insurgency. The only condition was that On 6 November 1985, M‑19 conducted a last, desper- the military would not intervene in politics. ate large-scale action. Thirty-five ‑M 19 insurgents seized The Army “crackdown” on civilians prompted the cre- the Palace of Justice in Bogotá, taking some 300 office ation of another insurgent group, “The 19th of April Move- workers, lawyers, judges, and supreme court justices ment,” or M‑19, in the 1970s. In contrast to the FARC and the hostage. Resolution of the crisis was turned over to the ELN, the M‑19 was largely an urban group and its mem- Colombian Army. Despite repeated pleas for restraint bership was filled by the children of the privileged classes. from the hostages, the Army attacked with overwhelm- M‑19 achieved prominence on 27 February 1980, when it ing force. During the chaotic assault, the building caught seized the Embassy of the Dominican Republic during an fire and eleven supreme court justices and ninety civil- official function. The group captured fourteen ambassa- ians died. The majority of the insurgents also were killed. dors, including the American, and numerous minor dip- It was the most audacious but final action of the ‑M 19.

10 Veritas Colombia’s Exports: Coffee, Oil, and Cocaine

Colombia has long been an of the delivery pipelines are exposed and ing a “need” for narcotraffickers to find a important trading partner with the Unit- unprotected. Since many oil companies new product; second, Chilean President ed States. Although Colombia has many are foreign-owned and represent outside Augusto Pinochet cracked down on his valuable natural resources—gold, emer- influences, the Marxist guerrillas feel own country’s involvement in the cocaine alds, and coal—the three best-known justified in “taxing” them. As a result, trade.6 Prior to this, Chile had been the exports to the United States are coffee, the petroleum industry in Colombia dominant world supplier. Compounded oil, and cocaine. As an industry, cof- loses millions of dollars in production by growing popularity in the United fee has the longest history. Colombia’s annually to extortion and by insurgent States, the Colombian cocaine trade mountainous regions are ideal for coffee attacks severing the pipelines. In 2004, had grown into a multi-billion dollar cultivation. First introduced in the late there were 103 attacks on oil pipelines.3 industry. By the late 1980s, several high eighteenth century, it was a cash-crop The resulting spillage and environ- profile drug lords wielded enormous by the early nineteenth century and its mental damage makes the Exxon Valdez power in Colombia. Included among production competed with Brazil. Today, disaster appear insignificant in compari- them was Pablo Escobar, whose position Colombia is second only to Brazil, who son. Illegal siphoning is also a problem. in the cocaine trade made him one of the remains the world’s number one coffee Faced with these problems, several of the world’s wealthiest individuals.7 In recent producer. As late as the 1970s, coffee was foreign oil companies routinely make years, Colombia’s insurgent groups have Colombia’s most important export, with their helicopters available to speed the moved into the cocaine trade to fund the majority going to the United States. military response to guerrilla attacks on their activities. They have also expanded However, with the decline in coffee pric- the pipelines. into the opium trade—and in particular, es in recent years, because of increased Illegal groups in Colombia also derive its derivative of heroin—and now Colom- production in Africa and Central Amer- a significant income from illicit exports. bia ranks as a leading producer. ica, the export power of coffee has been Colombia is the world’s leading cocaine marginalized. producer. In 2004, some 440 square miles 1 Connie Veillette, Plan“ Colombia: A Progress Report,” CRS Report or Congress, 11 January, 2006, 11. 4 Worldwide, Colombia is one of the few of coca were under cultivation. Coca has 2 “Background Note: Colombia,” U.S. Department of net exporters of oil. Although Colombia’s a long history in the region. The coca State, October 2006, www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35754. oil reserves are far below those of neigh- plant has been used for thousands of htm. boring Venezuela, they are very impor- years for medicinal purposes—as a tea to 3 Veillette, Plan“ Colombia,” 12. 4 “The CIA World Factbook: Colombia,” tant to the national economy. In 2003, ward off altitude sickness and as a mild Central Intelligence Agency, 2006, www.cia. oil exports from Colombia accounted stimulant by chewing the leaves. Some gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/co.html. for nearly 30 percent of export revenues plants are still legally grown in South 5 U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, “Cocaine,” and contributed 10 percent of the gov- America for this purpose. The process http://www.dea.gov/concern/cocaine.html, Novem- ber 2006. 1 ernment’s revenue. Although the coun- of deriving cocaine from coca leaves was 6 Geoff Simons, Colombia: A Brutal History (London: try has limited reserves, it will likely not discovered until the late nineteenth Saqi Books, 2004), 61. continue to be an oil exporter through century. Cocaine was not declared illegal 7 For information on Escobar and his downfall, see the decade.2 However, the industry does in the United States until 1914.5 Mark Bowden, Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World’s Greatest Outlaw, (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, have problems. Much of the oil produc- Two factors in the 1970s promoted 2001). tion infrastructure is located in remote Colombia to prominence in the cocaine areas of the northern lowlands, called lla- trade: first, the United States curtailed nos, with a low population density. Many Colombian shipments of marijuana, forc-

Coffee beans come from a small Oil from northern Colombia is Cocaine is a derivative of the bush or tree that thrives in the transported in pipelines, much leaves of the coca plant. It is often highlands. Colombia is one of the of which are above ground and grown hidden in the coffee fields. world’s largest exporters of coffee. in rural areas. This makes them tempting targets for the insurgent groups. Vol. 2 No. 4 11 M‑19: Movimiento 19 de Abril

(Movement of 19 April) By the end of the decade, the remnants of M‑19 had surrendered their weapons Although the M‑19 is now a part of a legal political party, the and transformed the organization into a importance of its insurgent activities merits inclusion. The M‑19 was also political party. a leftist group, but unlike the FARC and ELN, was composed primarily of The FARC and the ELN kept up their young urban intellectuals from the upper classes. M‑19 traced its begin- ongoing war against the government but nings to the fraudulent presidential elections of 19 April 1970 (Movimiento increasingly encountered the right-wing 19 de Abril = M‑19), when former dictator was denied groups and the armed bands formed victory. The group is best known for its characteristically bold exploits. In by the narcotraffickers. These groups 1974, it stole one of the swords of Simón Bolívar from a Bogotá museum, exponentially increased the level of ruth- pledging to return it only when the Liberator’s ideals were accomplished.1 lessness set by the FARC and ELN. The In 1979, the group became a serious threat. It dug a 246-foot tunnel to steal para-militaries massacred anyone or any several thousand weapons from an army warehouse.2 On 27 February 1980, group suspected of providing aid to the M‑19 seized the Embassy of the Dominican Republic during a reception. leftists. The leftist insurgents retaliated The group captured fourteen ambassadors—including the American—and in turn. The vicious cycle of threats, kid- many others. In exchange for a large sum of money and unhindered trans- nappings, disappearances, bombings, bla- portation to Cuba, the final hostages were released by the ‑M 19 on 27 April tant killings, and 1980. outright massa- By the mid 1980s, M‑19 was Colombia’s second largest insurgent group cres escalated. behind the FARC. It found itself short of operating funds. The group made In 1989, Presi- the mistake of kidnapping family members of prominent narcotraffickers. dent Virgilio When some of the kidnap victims were killed to speed ransoms, the nar- Barco formally cotraffickers formed MAS in retaliation. With police and army help, MAS renounced the tracked down and killed M‑19 members—until its numbers were reduced paramilitary to half.3 groups and tried The M‑19’s boldest operation occurred on 6 November 1985, when thirty- to end military five insurgents seized the Palace of Justice in Bogotá. Three hundred clerks, and police sup- lawyers, judges, and supreme court justices were taken hostage. The Army port. Having lost assaulted the Palace, killing the kidnappers. Eleven supreme court justices official sanc- and ninety clerks, lawyers, and judges also lost their lives. This was M‑19’s tion, the groups last major action. By the end of the 1980s, M‑19 had turned in its weapons simply financed and renounced further armed struggle. It returned the Liberator’s sword their activities and reorganized as a political party. The party existed separately through with drug mon- The notorious drug-lord the 1990s—sometimes achieving a significant percentage of the vote at the ey. Tacit coop- Pablo Escobar was a local level—but merged with the Independence Democratic Pole coalition eration from the kingpin in the Colom- in 2003. Army and Police bian cocaine trade and continued. That was responsible for 1 David Bushnell, The Making of Modern Colombia: A Nation in Spite of Itself (Berkeley: University of same year, men violence across the California Press, 1993), 246. country. He was one of working for 2 Robin Kirk, More Terrible than Death: Massacres, Drugs, and America’s War in Colombia (New York: Public the world’s richest men, Affairs, 2003), 104. narcotrafficker but was hunted down 3 Kirk, More Terrible than Death, 106–07, 112–13. Pablo Escobar and killed in 1993 by a gunned down confederation of Colom- presidential can- bian paramilitaries, the didate Luis Car- Colombian government, los Galán. This and the United States. forced the gov- ernment to confront Escobar and other narcotraffickers. Barco cracked down, declared a war on drugs, and advocated extradition of drug dealers to the United States for criminal trial. Escobar responded violently by order- ing attacks on government officials who opposed him and/or advocated extradi- tion. Escobar and the other narcotraffick- The aftermath of the 6 November 1985 M‑19 seizure of the Palace ers—banded together. The “extraditables” of Justice in Bogotá. In a heavy-handed intervention, the Army put so much pressure on the government cleared the building of insurgents, at a loss of over a hundred by targeted killings and bombings that people; government workers, soldiers, guerrillas, and eleven Supreme Court justices.

12 Veritas Colombia: A Land of

President César Gaviria renounced extradition and Geographic Extremes tried to negotiate the surrender of the “extraditables.” As an incentive, the constitution was rewritten in The isthmus that geographically separates Panama from 1991, making extradition unconstitutional. This pro- South America connects the two continents at Colombia. It is hibition was later repealed. the only South American country with coastlines on the Pacific Despite this latest protection, the violence contin- Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. In addition to Panama, Colom- ued. Escobar, who did surrender, later “escaped” from bia is bordered by Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, and Ecuador. It is his private and lavish “jail.” After another round of the fourth largest country in South America with a total area

protracted violence, Pablo Escobar was tracked down of some 440,000 square miles, making it about three times the MARTINIQUE Caribbean Sea 1 SAINT LUCIA and killed in 1993 by an alliance of the armed group size of Montana. A SAINT VINCET St. Vincet BARBADOS NICARAGUA Lesser Antilles AND THE ARUBA NETHERLANDS GRENADINES ANTILLES Grenadines Perseguidos por Pablo Escobar (Victims of Pablo Esco- population of forty- Curacao Bonaire GRENADA Tobago TRINIDAD bar), commonly known as “Los Pepes,” government three million ranks AND TOBAGO Trinidad forces, and the United States. Instead of slackening, Colombia as the third PANAMA COSTA VENEZUELA A t l a n t i c the violence got worse. In 1995 alone, over 25,000 most populous coun- RICA Colombians were murdered, many by self-defense try in Latin America, O c e a n groups that worked with the unspoken consent of behind Mexico and GUYANA 2 FRENCH the military and police. As Brazil. The popula- SURINAME GUIANA

a result of this, in 1997, the tion is a mixture of COLOMBIA U.S. Congress attached the native, European,

Marajo Island Leahy Amendment to the and African extrac- ECUADOR

Colombian Appropriations tion. Ninety percent 12000+ Ft. Bill. This amendment stipu- of the population is 9000-12000 Ft. 7500-9000 Ft. lated all U.S. military assis- Roman Catholic. 6000-7500 Ft. tance to Colombia could The topography 4500-6000 Ft. AUC logo 3000-4500 Ft. go only to units cleared of of Colombia ranges 1800-3000 Ft. 1200-1800 Ft. human rights violations. In from coastal plains 600-1200 Ft. BRAZIL 1997, the various self-defense along the western 300-600 Ft. 150-300 Ft. forces—still tacitly accepted seaboard to the 0-150 Ft. PERU by the government—formed Andes Mountain themselves into a confedera- chain that traverses tion called the Autodefensas the entire western half of the country. This chain is further BOLIVIA Unidas de Colombia (AUC) bisected by three mountain ranges that create deep valleys and because the government rugged highlands. The waterlogged eastern lowlands, called “affair” with the self-defense llanos, are the largest contiguous area and constitute some 50 forces was at an end. Faced percent of Colombia’s landmass. However, they are virtually with pressure from human cut off from the rest of the countryP a cby i fthe i c Andes chain. The PARAGUAY rights groups, denial of visas lowlands are sparsely populated andO c ehome a n to only 3 percent CHILE to Colombian military offi- of Colombia’s population. Ninety-seven percent of the popula- ARGENTINA cers by the U.S. Department tion lives in the mountains, valleys, and western coastal plain. The current president of of State, and the conditions Even here, the majority of the population is concentrated in the Colombia, Alvaro Uribe for U.S. funding, the govern- three largest cities; Bogotá, Cali, and Medellín. While political- Vélez. ment declared the AUC—at ly, Colombia is divided into thirty-two administrative depart- least on paper—illegal. ments, the country has been traditionally divided into regions Seeing no end to the vio- by geography. lence, President Andrés Pas- trana took a radical step. He 1 The World Factbook 2005 (Washington D.C.: Central Intelligence Agency, 2005), 122–24. solicited negotiation with 2 “Background Note: Colombia,” U.S. Department of State; October 2006, www.state. the FARC. In 1999, Pastrana gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35754.htm Colombia expanded the effort by ced- Bogotá ing a demilitarized zone the size of Switzerland, known DMZ unofficially as “FARClandia,” and officially as the Zona de Larandia Despeje (the open land). Pas- U. COLOMBIAS. A. trana also was an architect of Plan Colombia, a $4.5 billion effort co-funded by the Unit- ed States to end Colombia’s Map of despeje area. 0 1000 Miles

0 1000 KM

Vol. 2 No. 4 13 internal conflict, eliminate drug trafficking in six years, regain control of its future and curb the violence that has and to promote economic and social development.16 The stained the twentieth century and threatens the twenty- current president, Alvaro Uribe Vélez, having observed first century. the futility of negotiating with the FARC, took a tough stance. He refused to negotiate with any insurgent Troy J. Sacquety earned an MA from the University of groups until they committed to a cease-fire and dis- Nebraska–Lincoln and is completing his PhD in Military armed. He increased the size of the military and police History through Texas A&M University. Prior to joining force and gave them “expanded authorities.” This was the USASOC History Office staff he worked several years followed by Plan Patriota, a military campaign to regain for the Central Intelligence Agency. Mr. Sacquety has 17 control of guerrilla-dominated territory. It began with previously contributed articles to Studies in Intelligence: the dismantling of FARClandia. Journal of the American Intelligence Professional. The results of Plan Colombia are promising. A key Current research interests include Army and Office of part of this strategy—though controversial—has been Strategic Services (OSS) special operations during World aerial eradication of drug crops. Thousands of hect- War II, and Camp Mackall, North Carolina. ares are sprayed every year, the effect of which greatly reduces potential yields of illicit drugs. According to the Congressional Research Service, the U.S. street price of Endnotes cocaine and heroin—the two primary drugs involved in 1 David Bushnell, The Making of Modern Colombia: A Nation in Spite of Itself the illicit Colombian drug trade—has increased. At the (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), front cover. same time, the purity and availability of the drugs have 2 Only the American Civil War (1861–1865) and the War of the Triple Alliance (also known as the Paraguayan War 1864–1870) produced greater casualties. fallen, indicating that the amount being imported into Estimates on the number of casualties vary; Bushnell, The Making of Modern the United States may be decreasing.18 Now, the cultiva- Colombia, 205, places the number at between 100,000 and 200,000. Geoff Simons, Colombia: A Brutal History (London: Saqi Books, 2004), 38, places it tion of opium poppies in hard to reach mountain areas at more than 250,000. Other sources place the number of killed even higher. has grown significantly in the past few years. Official Colombian history usually marks the end of La Violencia in 1957 Plan Colombia has also increased security in the rural with the formation of the National Front. areas, long the domain of insurgent and bandit groups. 3 Geoff Simons, Colombia: A Brutal History (London: Saqi Books, 2004), 40. The Colombian National Police now have a fixed pres- 4 Simons, Colombia: A Brutal History, 40. 5 Robin Kirk, More Terrible than Death: Massacres, Drugs, and America’s War in ence in all municipalities, with more than 9,000 Granader- Colombia, (New York: Public Affairs, 2003), 27–31. 19 os and Carabineros deployed to rural areas. The increased 6 Kirk, More Terrible than Death, 44–45. police and military presence has helped to lower the 7 Simons, Colombia: A Brutal History, 42. number of kidnappings. Still, Colombia has the world’s 8 The text of the charter can be found at the OAS website at www.oas.org/ highest rate. The plan has also helped reduce the number main/main.asp?sLang=E&sLink=http://www.oas.org/juridico/english/ of insurgents by attrition, surrender, and peace negotia- charter.html. 9 Ibid, 42, “Visit to Colombia, South America, by a Team from Special Warfare tions. Promoting the premise that increased government Center, Fort Bragg, North Carolina,” 26 February 1962, ARSOF history files, pressure negated their need to operate against the FARC Fort Bragg, NC. and the ELN, the AUC entered into negotiations with 10 For more on the U.S. assistance to Colombia in this period, see Dennis M. 20 Rempe, “The Past as Prologue: A History of US Counter-Insurgency Policy the Uribe government to demobilize. Plan Colombia also in Colombia 1958–1966,” March 2002, Strategic Studies Institute Monologue, provides the framework needed to expand U.S. military available at http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB17. assistance. This has helped to raise the effectiveness of pdf. the Colombian military and paramilitary police in con- 11 Kirk, More Terrible than Death, 53–55. ducting counter-insurgency operations, especially since 12 Kirk, More Terrible than Death, 56. 13 Kirk, More Terrible than Death, 56. they are no longer “out-gunned” by the narcotraffickers, 14 Kirk, More Terrible than Death, 56. FARC, or ELN. 15 Kirk, More Terrible than Death, 106–07. Colombia has long been a country wracked by divi- 16 Connie Veillette, Plan“ Colombia: A Progress Report,” CRS Report for Congress, sive politics and feud-like violence. At times, the level of 11 January, 2006, 1. violence has threatened to tear the country apart. Still, 17 Veillette, Plan“ Colombia,” 3. Colombia remains a country in transition facing serious 18 Veillette, Plan“ Colombia,” 3–4. problems with narcotrafficking and insurgent warfare. 19 Veillette, Plan“ Colombia,” 8. Despite these threats, it is a dynamic country with many 20 Connie Veillette, “Colombia: Issues for Congress, “CRS Report for Congress, valuable natural resources. Under Plan Colombia, the 19 January 2005, 5–6. country appears to be moving in the right direction to

14 Veritas