The Colombian conflict is an internal armed war that has been going on for more than half a century, approximately originated in the early 1950’s. It is a war between the government, various parliamentary groups and left-wing guerrillas such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN), for the struggle of political power and economic/social rights. Since its origin, the war has involved multiple agendas of power, drugs, violence and greed. It is about time the world takes a serious effort in resolving this ongoing conflict by taking drastic measures in helping Columbia establish intelligence agencies and strengthen local security initiatives for the safety of the citizens, improve human rights throughout the land such as equality and equal access to resources/land, help by abolishing the drug trade, and additionally strengthen the state and the state’s judiciary system in all parts of Colombia.
With continuous devastating violence going on in a country with an uncoordinated and weak state response to such violence, local citizens-security initiatives that promote local enforcement and strengthen the role of civil society groups should be on the top of the priority list. Firstly, the Guerillas such as FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the ELN (National Liberation Army) continue to commit serious abuses against civilians. They are involved in the killing, threats, recruitment of child soldiers and forced displacement. For example, “The FARC and ELN frequently use antipersonnel landmines and other indiscriminate weapons. The government reported 16 civilians killed and 104 injured by landmines and unexploded munitions between January and August 2011. On July 9, 2011, the ...
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...ernment’s inherent inability to form a lasting peace and mitigate the effects of the conflict.
In conclusion, this internal armed conflict that originated in the 1950’s is going on to this very day. The continuous dispute between various parliamentary groups and left-wing guerillas such as the FARC and ELN continue to struggle over political power, drugs and violence. All in all, it is about time the world as a global community takes drastic measures in resolving this horrific ongoing conflict for the benefit of Colombia by helping establish intelligence agencies and strengthening local security initiatives for the safety of the citizens, improve human rights throughout the country such as emphasising equality and equal access to resources/land, help abolish the huge drug trade industry and last but not least strengthen the state and the state’s judiciary system.
The republic of Colombia has been fighting an internal war for over 50 years. On April 9th 1948, 1:00P.M. The leader of the Liberal Party Jorger Eliecer Gaitan walked out of his office in the downtown area, got shot 3 times and died once he got to the hospital. This day went down in Colombian history as the Bogotazo. Gaitan was a moderate socialist congressman that gave a voice to the middle and lower classes in Colombia. He gave hope to those that had nothing under the right wing elitist government. In 1948 after his death, the era of the Violencia started. A civil war between the Colombian communist party and the farmers against the right wing military conservative government due to the high inflation and unfair assistance to those that
Colombia emerged from the collapse of the Gran Colombia in 1830. Since then the country has struggled with internal threats, illicit drug production, and estranged relations with neighboring nations. In a country slightly less than twice the size of Texas and claiming over 46,000,000 citizens, Colombia faces many challenges in its efforts to resolve internal conflict, reduce narcotics operations, improve the environment, and repair relationships in the region.
As the Medellín Cartel was the largest drug cartel in Colombia at the time, they had controlled 80% of all the cocaine supply that was entering the United States. Despite the fact that Escobar donated millions of dollars to the local people of Medellin and funded the construction of schools and sports centers to help create a good reputation for himself. But even if he did donate millions of dollars to the poor, it was still just a chip into the Medellín Cartel’s wealth. By looking at the statistics of the number of people who were affected by Escobar’s acts of terror it has become evident to me that the negative effects of the Medellín Cartel had heavily outweighed the benefits of how Escobar tried to give back to the local people of Colombia.
Illegal drug trade in Colombia is the practice of producing and distributing narcotics domestically and around the world. As of 2012, Colombia was the world leading cocaine producer in the world (Neuman, 2012). Cocaine, marijuana and heroin along with other illegal drugs have become a big part of Colombians lifestyle and a major source of income for many people. Since the establishment of the War on Drugs in the late 20th century, European countries and United States have provided billions of dollars, logistics and military aid to the Colombia government to combat the illegal drug trade (Lilley, 2006). As of 1999, Plan Colombia has been one of the biggest movements towards Colombia’s biggest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The movement was implemented as Colombia supplies 80% of cocaine to American citizens (Vellinga, 2000). The US Drug Enforcement Administration estimated that Colombia’s annual profit ranges between $5-7 billion from drugs smuggled into the United States.
Narcoterrorism has a long past in the history of Colombia, focusing mainly on the market development of one drug: cocaine. Colombia, with its arid tropical climate and lush land, is an ideal place for the sowing and reaping of the coca plant whose extracts are synthesized into the powder cocaine drug. As Colombian cocaine production skyrocketed in the 1970’s and 1980’s thanks to booming demand for the product in Americas, drug kingpins in Colombia began to wield immense power in the country. ...
In August 2011, four soldiers were sentenced to 30 years for each murder plus 30 years for crimes against humanity, totaling 6,060 years each for the massacre in a village of Dos Erres in (“Guatemala hands down”) Although there is an attempt being made to convict the guilty, there are many people who should be punished, but will likely never be found to be sentenced (“Guatemala hands down”). It is even common for many people who do not receive adequate “justice to form lynch mobs or hire assassins” (Birns). The escalated violence has caused the community of Guatemala to experience instability and insecurity. The impact today is continued by the organizations who initially caused the conflict, including the “state’s security system” such as “death squads, intelligence units, police deployments, and military counterinsurgency forces” (Birns).
Political violence is action taken to achieve political goals that may include armed revolution, civil strife, terrorism, war or other such activities that could result in injury, loss of property or loss of life. Political violence often occurs as a result of groups or individuals believing that the current political systems or anti-democratic leadership, often being dictatorial in nature, will not respond to their political ambitions or demands, nor accept their political objectives or recognize their grievances. Formally organized groups, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), businesses and collectives of individual citizens are non-state actors, that being that they are not locally, nationally or internationally recognized legitimate civilian or military authorities. The Cotonou Agreement of 2000 defines non-state actors as being those parties belonging to the private sector, economic and social partners and civil society in all its forms according to national characteristics. Historical observation shows that nation states with political institutions that are not capable of, or that are resistant to recognizing and addressing societies issues and grievances are more likely to see political violence manifest as a result of disparity amongst the population. This essay will examine why non-state political violence occurs including root and trigger causes by looking at the motivations that inspire groups and individuals to resort to non-conforming behaviors that manifest as occurrences of non-state political violence. Using terrorism and Islamic militancy on the one side, and human rights and basic freedoms on the other as examples, it will look at these two primary kinds of political violence that are most prevalent in the world ...
Beginning in 1845 and ending in 1850 a series of events took place that would come to be known as the Mexican war and the Texas Revolution. This paper will give an overview on not only the events that occurred (battles, treaties, negotiations, ect.) But also the politics and reasoning behind it all. This was a war that involved America and Mexico fighting over Texas. That was the base for the entire ordeal. This series of events contained some of the most dramatic war strategy that has ever been implemented.
The cartels are now in control of most of the drug trades and are successful. The Mexican border gives them the power to go everywhere they desire, making them a relentless force. “To date operation Xcellrator has led the arrest of 755 individuals and the seizure of approximately 5 U.S. Currency more than 12,000 kilograms of cocaine, more than 16,000 pounds of marijuana, more than 11,000 of methamphetamine, more than 8 kilograms of heroin, approximately 1.3 million pills of ecstasy”(Doj 2). Mexican cartels extend to central and southern America. Columbia is the supply of much of the cocaine exported to the U.S. Colombia is under control of South American gangs, they do business with the Mexican cartels to transport drugs the north. The Northern Mexican gangs hold the most control because the territory is very important (Wagner1). They are many different types of cartel in Mexico it also signifies that there are killing each other so their cartel can expand an...
During 1979-1992 El Salvador was engaged in a civil war, with the government fighting the rural indigenous citizens. Violence and gang culture were taking over the country and creating a cycle that can’t be easily broken. El Salvador’s citizens were searching for new power, opportunities, and a way out of poverty.
Drug trafficking and terrorism are illegal clandestine activities with strong national security and law enforcement threat components and operational similarities. Terrorists like drug traffickers, need weapons and engage in violence to achieve goals. Terrorists, like drug traffickers, are often involved in hiding and laundering sources of funds. Both terrorists and drug traffickers operate transnationally, and often get logistical and operational support from local ethnic satellite communities. Both groups often rely on the criminal community for support: they may need smuggled weapons, forged documents and safe houses to operate effectively. Finally, both groups need a steady cash flow to operate. In the case of terrorists, where state sources of funding are rapidly diminishing, drug trafficking is an attractive funding option. Increasingly, terrorist organizations are looking to criminal activity and specifically the drug trade as a source of funding. The FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces, a guerilla force) in Colombia are but one of many cases in point.
... the world in coca cultivation, along with Columbia and Bolivia, and their production doubled in the 1990s (Lia, 2005). Terrorism in modern Peru has evolved from attacks by a collection of communist guerilla outfits with differing degrees of fundamentalism into utilitarian narco-terrorism, with the potential for anti-globalization violence. The evolution of terrorism in other parts of the world have taken a more fundamental turn with the rise of Global Jihadist, but Peruvians guerillas appear to have left the most extreme Maoist versions of their ideology behind. Hopefully this foretells of a much less violent future for Peru, even if there are still unresolved security problems. With the emergence of narco-terrorism, the future is more uncertain, and the trade-offs needed to separate terrorists from coca farmers are difficult to make politically and diplomatically.
In 1995, the US began to fund aerial eradication campaigns in Colombia. Military planes dumped pesticides over thousands of acres of coca fields. These campaigns turned out to be counterproductive, leading to an actual increase in the amount of coca acreage. The spraying of coca only led Colombian growers to diversify their techniques, growing coca amongst other crops or in locations that were hard to identify by radar techniques. In 2002, the CI...
Wickham-Crowley, Timothy P. Guerrillas & Revolution in Latin America: A Comparative Study of Insurgents and Regimes Since 1956. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1992.
With the war on drugs still a big issue on the front, its paramilitary groups still trying to get a foot in its government, and its enormous gap between social classes, Colombia still has a long way to go before it becomes a stable country. Although with its struggle within its people still main their rich heritage and rich culture, and hope that one they can be known as a world power.