Colombian conflict

Colombian Conflict
Part of the Cold War (1964–1991) and the War on Drugs (1971–present)

Top left: FARC guerrillas during the Caguan dialogues.
Top right: Displaced people.
Center left: National Police during the Palace of justice siege.
Center right: Death of Pablo Escobar.
Bottom left: peace talks during the government of Juan Manuel Santos.
Bottom right: Fredy Iturre Klínger (center) cries after seeing his half-brother killed in the Battle of Gutiérrez, 1999.
DateMay 27, 1964[28][29] – present
(59 years, 11 months, 3 weeks and 4 days)
Location
Colombia with spillovers into Venezuela
Status

Ongoing

Territorial
changes
El Caguán DMZ (1999–2002)
Belligerents

Colombia Colombia

Supported by:
 Peru
 Panama[1]
 Mexico
 Ecuador
 United States
 Spain[2]
 United Kingdom[3]
 Thailand[4]

Colombian drug cartels and paramilitaries

Supported by:
Contras (1979–90)


Mexican drug cartels and paramilitaries

Guerrillas

Supported by:
 Venezuela[16]
 Cuba[17][18]
 Belarus[19][20] (from 2008)
 Nicaragua (alleged)[21]
Libya (until 2011)[22][23]
 Soviet Union
(until 1989)[18]
Albania (financial support; 1960s–1970s)[24]
Cartel of the Suns[25]
FBL[16]
Shining Path (factions)[26][27]
ETA (1964–2018)
PIRA (1969–98)
Commanders and leaders

Colombia Gustavo Petro
(2022–present)

AUC:
Fidel Castaño 
Carlos Castaño 
Vicente Castaño[30]
Rodrigo Tovar Pupo
Salvatore Mancuso
Diego Murillo
Medellín cartel:
Pablo Escobar 

FARC:
Timoleón Jiménez
Iván Márquez
Joaquín Gómez
Mauricio Jaramillo

ELN:
Antonio García
Francisco Galán
Strength
National Police: 175,250[31]
Army: 237,567[31]
Navy: 33,913[31]
Air Force: 14,033[31]
Paramilitary successor groups, including the Black Eagles: 3,749–13,000[32][33][34] FARC: 13,980 (2016)[35]
ELN: 1,380–3,000 (2013)[36]
EPL: 400 (2017)[15]
FARC dissidents: 2,500 (2021)[37]
Casualties and losses
Colombia Army and Police:
4,908 killed since 2004[31]
20,001 injured since 2004[31]
AUC:
2,200 killed
35,000 demobilized
BACRIM:
222 killed[31]
18,506 captured[31]
Medellín Cartel:
2,100 killed
FARC,
ELN and other irregular military groups:
11,484 killed since 2004[31]
26,648 demobilized since 2002[38]
34,065 captured since 2004[31]
Civilians killed: 177,307[39]
People abducted: 27,023[39]
Total people displaced: 4,744,046–5,712,506[39][40]
Number of refugees: 340,000[41]
Total dead: 220,000+[42]
Total casualties: 450,000[43][39][44]

The Colombian conflict (Spanish: Conflicto armado interno de Colombia, lit.'Colombian internal armed conflict') began on May 27, 1964, and is a low-intensity asymmetric war between the government of Colombia, far-right paramilitary groups and crime syndicates, and far-left guerrilla groups, fighting each other to increase their influence in Colombian territory.[45] Some of the most important international contributors to the Colombian conflict include multinational corporations, the United States,[46][47][48] Cuba,[49] and the drug trafficking industry.[50]

The conflict is historically rooted in the conflict known as La Violencia, which was triggered by the 1948 assassination of liberal political leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán,[51] and in the aftermath of the anti-communist repression in rural Colombia in the 1960s that led Liberal and Communist militants to re-organize into the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).[52]

The reasons for fighting vary from group to group. The FARC and other guerrilla movements claim to be fighting for the rights of the poor in Colombia to protect them from government violence and to provide social justice through communism.[53] The Colombian government claims to be fighting for order and stability, and to protect the rights and interests of its citizens. The paramilitary groups claim to be reacting to perceived threats by guerrilla movements.[54]

According to a study by Colombia's National Centre for Historical Memory, 220,000 people have died in the conflict between 1958 and 2013, most of them civilians (177,307 civilians and 40,787 fighters), and more than five million civilians were forced from their homes between 1985 and 2012, generating the world's second-largest population of internally displaced persons (IDPs).[39][55][42] 16.9% of the population in Colombia has been a direct victim of the war.[56] 2.3 million children have been displaced from their homes, and 45,000 children killed, according to national figures cited by UNICEF.[citation needed] In total, one in three of the 7.6 million registered victims of the conflict are children, and since 1985, 8,000 minors have disappeared.[57] A Special Unit was created to search for persons deemed as missing within the context of and due to the armed conflict.[58] As of April 2022, the Single Registry of Victims reported 9,263,826 victims of the Colombian conflict, with 2,048,563 of them being children.

Approximately 80% of those killed in the conflict have been civilians. In 2022 the Truth Commission of Colombia estimated that paramilitaries were responsible for 45% of civilian deaths, the guerrillas for 27% and state forces for 12%, with the remaining 16% attributable to other groups or mixed responsibility.[59][60]

On June 23, 2016, the Colombian government and the FARC rebels signed a historic ceasefire deal, bringing them closer to ending more than five decades of conflict.[61] Although the deal was rejected in the subsequent October plebiscite,[62] the same month, President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to bring the country's more than 50-year-long civil war to an end.[63] A revised peace deal was signed the following month and submitted to Congress for approval.[64] The House of Representatives unanimously approved the plan on November 30, a day after the Senate also gave its backing.[65]

  1. ^ "Panama busts drug ring linked to Colombia's FARC, Mexican cartel". Reuters. December 19, 2014. Archived from the original on December 25, 2015. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  2. ^ "España apoyará la lucha de Colombia contra las Farc". caracol.com.co. 19 April 2012. Archived from the original on 12 October 2017. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  3. ^ "British intelligence members sent to Colombia after IRA suspects arrested". The Irish News. September 17, 2016. Archived from the original on March 20, 2017. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
  4. ^ "Russian 'merchant of death' arrested in Thailand". France 24. March 3, 2008. Archived from the original on February 8, 2011. Retrieved March 3, 2008.
  5. ^ "Caen los últimos herederos de los rastrojos". semana.com. Archived from the original on 27 July 2017. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  6. ^ "Ex-FARC Mafia". InSight Crime. June 1, 2023. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  7. ^ "Ex-FARC Mafia: The New Player in Colombian Organized Crime". InSight Crime. March 9, 2018. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  8. ^ "Alianzas mantienen a "los Urabeños" en regiones". elcolombiano.com. May 6, 2014. Archived from the original on September 18, 2017. Retrieved February 10, 2018.
  9. ^ "El ministro de Defensa aseguró que con este logro se desarticula toda la organización". infobae.com. Archived from the original on 10 February 2018. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  10. ^ "El ministro de Defensa aseguró que con este logro se desarticula toda la organización". infobae.com. Archived from the original on 10 February 2018. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  11. ^ "Reuters: The Business of Information". October 18, 1996. Archived from the original on October 18, 1996.
  12. ^ "La disidencia de las FARC llega ya a los 700 combatientes". November 27, 2017. Archived from the original on June 2, 2018. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
  13. ^ "EPL / Los Pelusos – Profile". March 26, 2017. Archived from the original on July 12, 2018. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
  14. ^ "Colombia Arrest of EPL Middleman Shows Booming Venezuela Arms Market". April 28, 2017. Archived from the original on February 13, 2018. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
  15. ^ a b "Las 10 razones por las que el EPL es un problema que se le creció al Gobierno". lasillavacia.com. Archived from the original on August 17, 2017. Retrieved August 16, 2017.
  16. ^ a b Hudson, Rex A. (April 1, 2005). Country Profile: Venezuela. Washington, D.C.: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress. p. 28.
  17. ^ "Cuba's Renewed Support for Violence in Latin America" (PDF). United States Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs. December 14, 1981. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 23, 2017. Retrieved April 1, 2020.
  18. ^ a b Franks, Jeff; Murphy, Helen (September 6, 2020). "Colombia's FARC rebels to ask government for ceasefire". Reuters. Retrieved April 1, 2020.
  19. ^ "Оружейный бизнес Беларуси – легальный и "теневой"". Archived from the original on August 4, 2021. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  20. ^ "El Pais: Венесуэла с помощью Лукашенко и его приближенных поставляла белорусское оружие колумбийским боевикам". May 13, 2008. Archived from the original on June 8, 2021. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  21. ^ "Allegations of Venezuela, Nicaragua Complicity in FARC Money Laundering Resurface". September 18, 2017.
  22. ^ "Female Colombian snipers 'fighting to defend Col Gaddafi in Libya'". The Telegraph. April 14, 2011. Archived from the original on January 11, 2022.
  23. ^ "Revealed: Colonel Gaddafi's school for scoundrels". March 15, 2011.
  24. ^ Molla, Ylli (2016). Guerilas made in Albania historia e Arafatit. Botart. ISBN 978-9928-219-00-8.
  25. ^ Padgett, Tim (September 3, 2008). "Chávez and the Cash-Filled Suitcase". TIME. Archived from the original on March 18, 2014. Retrieved March 28, 2014.
  26. ^ "Recent Attack on Peru Police Shows Shining Path Still Strong". September 13, 2017.
  27. ^ "Shining Path". March 27, 2017.
  28. ^ "Timeline: Colombia's war with the FARC". November 13, 2012.
  29. ^ Bargent, James. "The FARC 1964–2002: From Ragged Rebellion to Military Machine". Archived from the original on September 27, 2016. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
  30. ^ "Vicente Castaño, muerto". Cambio. Archived from the original on February 27, 2012. Retrieved September 18, 2012.
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  32. ^ "New armed drug-trafficking groups menace Colombia". BBC News. September 12, 2010. Archived from the original on December 24, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  33. ^ Human Rights Watch, "World Report 2011: Colombia Archived 2015-02-06 at the Wayback Machine", World Report 2011, January 2011
  34. ^ "10,000 demobilized fighters rearm – Colombia news". Colombia Reports. September 14, 2010. Archived from the original on September 17, 2010. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
  35. ^ "Las Farc tendrían 13.980 miembros". Archived from the original on August 13, 2016. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  36. ^ "Colombia's ELN rebels release oil workers after brief capture -police". Reuters. October 18, 2013. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  37. ^ "At least 14 rebels killed in fighting with Colombian army". Reuters. April 18, 2021.
  38. ^ "Desmovilización, principal arma contra las guerrillas" (in Spanish). eltiempo.com. September 22, 2013. Archived from the original on September 23, 2013. Retrieved September 26, 2013.
  39. ^ a b c d e "Informe ¡Basta Ya! Colombia: memorias de guerra y dignidad: Estadísticas del conflicto armado en Colombia". Archived from the original on April 26, 2014. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
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  45. ^
  46. ^ Historical Commission on the Conflict and Its Victims (CHCV) (February 2015). "Contribution to an Understanding of the Armed Conflict in Colombia" (PDF) (in Spanish). Archived from the original (PDF) on January 21, 2016. Retrieved March 26, 2017.
  47. ^ Cite error: The named reference colombia-and-us-54 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  48. ^ Cite error: The named reference International actors was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  49. ^ "Cuba's Renewed Support for Violence in Latin America" (PDF). United States Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs. December 14, 1981. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 23, 2017. Retrieved April 1, 2020.
  50. ^ "'Without drug traffickers, we'd have peace': Colombian villagers flee new killings". The Guardian. September 22, 2018.
  51. ^ Garry Leech (2009). Beyond Bogota: Diary of a Drug War Journalist. Boston, MA: Beacon Press. pp. 242–247. ISBN 978-0-8070-6148-0.
  52. ^ Mario A. Murillo; Jesús Rey Avirama (2004). Colombia and the United States: war, unrest, and destabilization. Seven Stories Press. p. 57. ISBN 978-1-58322-606-3. la violencia colombia united states.
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  54. ^ "War on Drugs and Human Rights in Colombia". Archived from the original on December 26, 2009. Retrieved November 9, 2010.
  55. ^ Historical Memory Group (2013). "Enough Already!" Colombia: Memories of War and Dignity (PDF) (in Spanish). The National Center for Historical Memory's (NCHM). ISBN 978-958-57608-4-4. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 11, 2015. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  56. ^ "Registro Único de Víctimas – Unidad para las Víctimas". arcoiris.com.co. May 14, 2016. Archived from the original on July 8, 2016.
  57. ^ "The Psychological Trauma of a Multi-Generation War". The Atlantic. December 2016. Archived from the original on March 5, 2017. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  58. ^ Cite error: The named reference victimsagreementfarc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  59. ^ "Truth Commission of Colombia: Executive Summary". ABColombia. July 15, 2022.
  60. ^ "Findings and Recommendations from the Colombian Truth Commission (Hallazgos y Recomendaciones de la Comisión de la Verdad de Colombia)". Truth Commission (Comisión de la Verdad). July 26, 2022. pp. 127–128.
  61. ^ Gregor Maaß; Mario Pilz (July 23, 2016). "Returning to everyday life". D+C/Development+Cooperation. Archived from the original on July 24, 2016. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
  62. ^ Idler, Annette. "Colombia just voted no on its plebiscite for peace. Here's why and what it means". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  63. ^ "The Nobel Peace Prize 2016 – Juan Manuel Santos". nobelprize.org. Archived from the original on 7 October 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
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