MENDEL UNIVERSITY IN BRNO Faculty of Regional Development and International Studies Analyzing Colombia´s civil conflict, the peace process and future prospects using study cases Bachelor´s thesis Author: Šárka Hettmerová Supervisor: Ing. Eduardo Alfredo von Bennewitz Álvarez, Ph.D. Brno 2017 Declaration I declare that I carried out this thesis: Analyzing Colombia´s civil conflict, the peace process and future prospects using study cases, independently, and only with the cited sources, literature and other professional sources. I agree that my work will be published in accordance with Section 47b of Act No. 111/1998 Coll. on Higher Education as amended thereafter and in accordance with the Guidelines on Publishing University Student Theses. I understand that my work relates to the rights and obligations under the Act No. 121/2000 Coll., the Copyright Act, as amended, in particular the fact that Mendel University in Brno has the right to conclude a license agreement on the use of this work as a school work pursuant to Section 60 paragraph 1 of the Copyright Act. Before closing a license agreement on the use of my thesis with another person (subject) I undertake to request for a written statement of the university that the license agreement in question is not in conflict with the legitimate interests of the university, and undertake to pay any contribution, if eligible, to the costs associated with the creation of the thesis, up to their actual amount. Brno May 19th 2017 ······································ Šárka Hettmerová Acknowledgement Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisor Ing. Eduardo Alfredo von Bennewitz Álvarez, Ph.D. for his valuable advice, assistance, and very useful recommendations while writing this bachelor thesis. Furthemore, I thank all Colombian students who provided the information needed to do the research. Thank you for your willingness to cooperate with me. Finally, I would like to thank to my family for their support during my studies. Abstract Hettmerová Š. Analyzing Colombia´s civil conflict, the peace process and future prospects using study cases Bachelor Thesis. Brno: Mendel University. Faculty of Regional Development and International Studies, 2017. Advisor: Ing. Eduardo Alfredo von Bennewitz Álvarez, Ph.D. The presented thesis deals with the „Analyzing Colombia´s civil conflict, the peace process and future prospects using study cases“. The theoretical part contains general aspects, informations about the historical background in Colombia, impingement of the selected principal parties, uneven land distribution and its impacts on the origin of more than 50 years long conflict and its description, explanation of difficult effortsto reach peace agreement through the history until it was reached in November 2016 with an outline of the historical context. The practical part of research is semi structured questionnaire conducted by undergraduate students living in Colombia and in the Czech Republic. This part analyses the information obtained from the survey. The study was conducted by the means of literature review and use of primary and secondary literature. The aim of this thesis is to analyze historical causes of the conflict, the main involved actors and social implications. The information should serve for people outside the Colombia, who hardly understand the current events related to peace process which associates Colombia only as the country full of drug problem. Key words: Colombia, Guerrilla, Conflict, Peace process, Peace agreement Abstrakt Hettmerová, Š. Analýza konfliktu v Kolumbii, mírového procesu a budoucích a vyhlídek za použití případové studie Bakalářská práce. Brno: Mendelova univerzita. Fakulta regionálního rozvoje a mezinárodních studií, 2017. Vedoucí bakalářské práce Ing. Eduardo Alfredo von Bennewitz Álvarez, Ph.D. Tato bakalářská práce se věnuje tématu “Analýza civilního konfliktu v Kolumbii, mírového procesu a budoucích vyhlídek za použití případové studie.“ Teoretická část mapuje obecné aspekty a informace o historickém zázemí v Kolumbii. Dále popisuje vybrané dominantní skupiny podílející se na více než 50 letém konfliktu, společně s nerovnoměrným rozložením půdy a s ním související dopad na průběh konfliktu. Práce se zabívá průběhem a obtížným dosahováním mírové dohody na pozadí historického kontextu, končící podpisem finální mírové dohody v listopadu 2016. Studie byla provedena na základě rešerše literatury s využitím primárních a sekundárních zdrojů. Cílem práce je analyzovat historické příčiny konfliktu, jeho hlavní aktéry a sociální důsledky vyplývající z konfliktu. Praktická část výzkumu je postavena na polostrukturovaném dotazníku, který byl vyplněn vzorkem vysokoškolských studentů žijících převážně v Kolumbii a České republice. Následně jsou informace získané z průzkumu analyzovány a provedeny identifikace možného potenciálu pro zlepšení situace. Informace by měly sloužit lidem pocházející ze zemí mimo Kolumbii, kteří jen stěží dokáží pochopit aktuální události spojené s mírovými procesy, a Kolumbii mají asociovanou pouze jako zemi drogových problémů. Klíčová slova: Kolumbie, Guerilla, Konflikt, Mírový proces, Mírová dohoda Table of contents Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………….8 1 METHODOLOGY AND AIM OF THE THESIS .......................................................... 10 I. THEORETICAL PART ................................................................................................... 12 2 GEOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................. 12 3 HISTORY OF COLOMBIA ............................................................................................ 13 3.1 Historical description of the violence .............................................................. 14 3.1.1 Guerrilla ............................................................................................................................... 14 3.2 Roots of Violence – major political parties ..................................................... 15 3.3 Preliminary explanation ....................................................................................... 15 3.4 Civil wars .................................................................................................................... 16 3.4.1 Causes of unrest (19 century) ..................................................................................... 16 3.5 Events before La Violencia ................................................................................... 17 3.6 La Violencia ............................................................................................................... 17 3.7 National front and post-civil war (La Violencia) events ............................ 18 4 THE INTERNAL CONFLICT AND REVOLUTIONARY ARMED GROUPS ......... 21 4.1 FARC ............................................................................................................................. 22 4.1.1 Short evolution of the FARC ........................................................................................ 22 4.1.2 Commencement of kidnappings and drug trafficking ....................................... 23 4.1.3 FARC EP ............................................................................................................................... 24 4.2 ELN ................................................................................................................................ 26 4.3 United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) ............................................. 28 4.3.1 Origin of the self-defence forces ................................................................................ 28 4.3.2 The evolution of AUC ...................................................................................................... 29 4.3.3 Paramilitary scandal ....................................................................................................... 30 5 LAND TENURE ............................................................................................................... 31 5.1 Inequality ................................................................................................................... 31 5.2 Colonial times ........................................................................................................... 32 5.2.1 Origin of land tenure ...................................................................................................... 32 5.3 Land concentration ................................................................................................. 33 5.4 Land ownership and agrarian reforms............................................................ 34 5.4.1 1936. Law 200 ................................................................................................................... 35 5.4.2 1944. Law 100 ................................................................................................................... 35 7 5.4.3 1961. Law 135 ................................................................................................................... 36 5.4.4 1973. Law 4 and 1975. Law 6 ..................................................................................... 36 5.4.5 1982. Law 35 ..................................................................................................................... 37 5.4.6 1988. Law 30 ..................................................................................................................... 37 5.4.7 1994. Law