Wonder how many of these officers responsible for the murder of farmers and unarmed former guerillas were trained by the US at the now infamous School of the Americas?
4
Two choices for Colombia: step up or give up.
2
This hasn't been a policy implemented only during the period 2002-2008, but during this time was more evident that before due to the fact that former president Alvaro Uribe Velez was more proactive in attacking left armed groups as well as whoever was linked or related in any way with those political wings.
Now, prior such period, a friend of mine was serving his time as a soldier in Colombian army. Im talking about the end of the 80's, when out of nothing, he used to return home every other month in vacations. When asked about it, he stated initially that that was his superior gift for good behaviour in the service, however, after couple of similar situations, when confronted he accepted finally that every time his troop enter in combat and kill a "guerrillero", they gain extra pay check and vacations. Unfortunately, my friend also died in a car accident many years ago, but he and his troop were instructed in a way in which life has no value, but specially the one of those who are against the officially elected government in Colombia.
Colombian government does not respond to policies that respect the life of its citizens, and their well being, but to foreign policies which target the economic interest and control of power.
3
Columbia has, since the eighties, been the center of drug trafficking, and as a result, corrupt politicians. Three friends of mine got their law degrees in the U.S. thinking that they could go back and change the system. They could not, without becoming corrupt themselves.
Another older Columbian student had to flee the country after having been high up in the government. He was kidnapped and blackmailed when he tried to expose officials taking bribes from the drug cartels.
It may of had a short period of stability, but it does not, historically, remain very long. It is a beautiful country, but not a place you should go without experienced guides in a group with you. You still hear gunfire going off in the capitol and now they have a refugee crisis as well to deal with.
For the woman above, think Costa Rica instead.
Until Americans stop buying cocaine, both countries will continue to have instability.
1
Contrary to what many may think, Colombia is at a crossroads: continue the road to peace or return to the 5 decades old internal armed conflict. Regardless of how well-crafted and deceptive the speeches from the Duque Government are, with Uribe overshadowing, there is no real commitment to the peace accords and the transitional justice system JEP. The bottom line is the JEP will reveal hard and inconvenient truths regarding the state’s complicity and crimes throughout the decades old conflict. This is a truth the government does not want to be known; especially Alvaro Uribe, who is connected to investigations of crimes against humanity for several massacres during his time as governor of Antioquia. Many of us know that is the real reason Duque’s government and his party are doing all they can to derail the peace accords; not least, their attempt at all costs, to extradite former commander Santrich since they know that that action will destabilize further these accords.
6
I know General Martinez since when we fought ELN and FARC together in the savannas of Arauca. He is an honorable, brave soldier and committed to the marrow with his homeland. It is enough to see his extraordinary results to understand this vile attack of the friends of the bandits.
2
The more things change, the more things stay the same.
I am no fan of the Colombian paramilitaries.
But I am no fan of the FARC, either.
Both are very violent and have committed killings, kidnappings, and selling of drugs.
Regarding the war on drugs, that is ridiculous. We killed Pablo Escobar in 1993 and the drugs keep coming.
How can people not see that?
Drugs are a demand side problem and we can never win the war on drugs.
And while we don't fix our demand side problem, there is money to be made and the violence and suffering of Colombian people will continue.
1
This article is misleading. Ivan Duque is trying to fix the mess the previous president left by letting Narco-Guerillas increase their drug production and trafficking, more drugs, more violence. So stop blaming the current president for his predecessor’s terrible government. Also, take into account that the falsely negotiated peace treaty was only to clean FARC’s name, but they haven’t admitted any crimes not repaired their victims, Colombians voted NO to this treaty because it didn’t bring justice. Duque needs to lead with authority to help the military regain control of the territory.
Going back to the past again. Unfortunatelly, some Colombian citizens believes that this things is not really happening in the country. Politic fanatics tergiverse news every day in the media and big cities doesn't have consciousness about the situation. Uribe's legacy has been terrible for our country.
20
Good response. This is right out of the Alvaro Uribe playbook.
5
@Miguel Borda Uribe is the most popular politician that has ever existed in Colombia, he dismantled the narcotraficking business and that still hurts a lot of powerful criminals. Uribe is democracy and free market for all Colombians
6
@Alejandro
Your ideal man was regarded as the drug dealer 82 by US intelligence agencies in the 90's. He beat a record allowing many cartels to get a license for private airport where drug was delivered to USA.
8
There is no way for Colombia and its people but to reveal the truth of the atrocities of the war and its main perpetrators. The war today wielded by the extreme right focuses on hiding that truth through continuous attacks on the JEP (Special Jurisdiction for Peace), the centerpiece of the agreements with the FARC and perpetuating war. Otherwise its speech will turn vacuous.
Colombia now needs the unrestricted and effective support of the international community to not wane in the effort for such an elusive peace, and especially by the International Criminal Court who must be careful to make accountable the war criminals, if to the misfortune of Colombians, the JEP is overwhelmed.
21
No surprise here. This is what Duque was elected to do, why he had the blessing of Uribe. There are too many people in Colombia who secretly desire constant conflict and unending violence because it is all that they know. The cycle of retribution possibly ending leaves them without raison d'être, or at least without reason to be voted into political office or appointed to higher ranking positions.
27
I don’t know how familiar you are with Colombia. But I am currently living in Colombia and have quite a bit of experience with many different parts of this country. The people of Colombia are in general good and kind people. I have in fact never encountered anyone in Colombia who desires continued violence. The roots of violence in general, whether in Colombia or elsewhere, are complex. With respect I must say that the notion that people in some simplistic sense desire conflict and violence is not productive.
79
@Disillusioned Selling military intelligence and weapons is a big incentive for certain groups in Colombia and in the US (through foreign policy) to push for military "results". That and the drug trade and illegal and abusive land dispossessions by those with access to arms and power are the roots of conflict in Colombia, not its people.
3
@Disillusioned@I dare to say you are wrong my friend, I'm a Colombian active duty officer, I had been deployed in Africa working with the United Nations, working for peace at the central African Republic, many friends from France, Moldova, Benin, Gambia, Zambia, Kenya, Congo, Lebanon, and many more, we believe in peace, we can make peace if we stop creating chaos in internet and media destruction everywhere. Being mediator at batangafo, a small and poor town north of CAR, talking every day with rebels I knew peace is achievable, some days I saw the extremist violence from Xselekas and Antibalakas (the two armed groups in conflict) killing people and destroying villages. On 23rd March 2018, they started peace, living in the same town sharing the same market place, sharing the same school for their children, so my question is why in my Country with tons of resources, with nice people where poverty is a joke in comparison with Africa, why is so difficult to pass the page and continue? Well as active duty officer the only order that I received from Colombian chief of the army was: "study English because the future belongs to those who prepare for it"
4
It is unbelievable how little value is placed on the lives of innocent civilians, in this case not even being mistakenly killed but intentionally targeted.
Colombia should be censured by the UN at the very least for such a terrible policy.
Unfortunately the utter disregard for 'collateral damage' in conflicts all over the world by many different armies is a disgraceful part of the world we live in.
57
As we of course know, what is happening at the moment in Columbia pales in comparison to what the United States has done in the past, for example in Vietnam, as well as in quite a few other places. This is not to excuse Columbia of course. These practices are unacceptable obviously whereever they occur.
44
@David Rosen it is the same model used during the Vietnam War. It is a copycat of the “Casualties count” approach used in Vietnam, not to mention the monetary incentives. They’ve turned an honorable army into an army of mercenaries that kill for a reward, just like in Nam...
15
@RHR
While you are at the UN, why don't you do something to help the refugee crisis caused by the Venezuelan meltdown? Or is that not the kind of intervention you are in favour of?
Europe and America could also stop buying cocaine. that would be really helpful.
7
I've been reading for a while now that Colombia is a wonderful Mecca for tourists and I was thinking of going there for a holiday but now I'm reading that Colombia is a cesspool of violence. Somebody help me make sense of this...
@Newfie
It can be both, depending on where you go. If you choose the most troubled areas, you'll get this. If not, you won't.
It is a shame this current government and the command of the army. Unfortunately that was seen coming with the election of President Duque and the people of his party called ¨Centro Democratico¨ They are interested in going back to the past, to the war and they live to impose fear on the population and lies about the signed peace agreement.
1
False positives have been used for years in Colombia. It is not news to the thousands of Colombian families who have been affected by the armed conflict. Funding sources and names have changed in recent years but the influence of US government in Colombia to dictate policy has not. Those policies have resulted in the similiar catastrophic results as the incarceration of black men has in the US. When policy dictates actions that can then be used to justify policy, tragedy is the result.
3
The Minister of defense is already attacking this article. In Colombia they want the war back so the corruption is not first page. Uribe’s sons became millionares at the age of 21 thanks to a land they bought before it became a business area close to Bogota. They were just really lucky.
2
Uribe brought peace to Colombia, Santos brought guerrillas back from the dead.
The original abuses were part of an American funded plan, very heavily funded, called Plan Colombia. It was murderous.
Now they are doing it again. Abrams is the US representative in the region, and he has been doing this since El Salvador. He went to prison for lying to Congress about that, was pardoned, and is back doing it again.
This is how the US keeps a grip on the one solid base it has in the region. It isn't worth this, but Elliot Abrams never cared before.
24
@Mark Thomason
I felt sick when I saw Elliot Abrams being assigned to the region. Now we see the results of his/our machinations. Just unbelievable.
7
@Mark Thomason You are wrong, the leftist rebels masked as "social leaders" now reinserted in the civil society are taking control of cocaine production and criminal bussiness against honest people. Early this year 23 young school soldiers lost their lives in a bombing terrorist attack. We are in need of our army in order to destroy comunist agents whom are trying to stablish their regime in Colombia like in Venezuela where the country was destroyed
2
@Mark Thomason
Plan Colombia was, I have to say, largely successful. It was not "murderous". This country was a mess back then, and Plan Colombia helped stabilize it.
When the current president, Ivan Duque aka as "PepaPig" given his physical resemblance to the cartoon but also the fact that he is seen as a tool of Alvaro Uribe, won the elections, more than 200 social leaders were assassinated. The leaders were social reformers, active and well-regarded in their small communities, who in one way or another supported the peace deal of president Santos and the campaigns of candidates who supported the implementation of the previously signed peace agreements. The whole country knew Uribe was behind it and they all feared what was yet to come. A repetition of history in Colombia is happening, carried out by the same monster, while the world watches.
9
@MC -- The President's brother is a well known right wing paramilitary death squad commander. None of this is a surprise to anyone.
15
" Colombia’s military remains under investigation for the series of illegal killings in the mid-2000s, known as “false positives.”
"Soldiers repeatedly killed peasants and claimed they were guerrilla fighters, sometimes even dressing them in fatigues and planting weapons near their bodies. The tactics stemmed from superiors demanding increased body counts, prosecutors say."
So is this the same Colombian presidential and military leadership who is our dearest and closest ally in the US attempt to overthrow the Venezuelan government on "humanitarian" grounds? Perhaps some subtle nuance gets lost in the translation of "humanitarian" into Spanish.
23
@woofer, I dare to say you are wrong my friend, I'm a Colombian active duty officer, I had been deployed in Africa working with the United Nations, working for peace at the central African Republic, many friends from France, Moldova, Benin, Gambia, Zambia, Kenya, Congo, Lebanon, and many more, we believe in peace, we can make peace if we stop creating chaos in internet and media destruction everywhere. Being mediator at batangafo, a small and poor town north of CAR, talking every day with rebels I knew peace is achievable, some days I saw the extremist violence from Xselekas and Antibalakas (the two armed groups in conflict) killing people and destroying villages. On 23rd March 2018, they started peace, living in the same town sharing the same market place, sharing the same school for their children, so my question is why in my Country with tons of resources, with nice people where poverty is a joke in comparison with Africa, why is so difficult to pass the page and continue? Well as active duty officer the only order that I received from Colombian chief of the army was: "study English because the future belongs to those who prepare for it"
What’s that old saying? When the US sneezes the world catches the flu? When Trump sneezes, the world catches the massacres.
9
The Colombian Army and the death squads have been given the go ahead to exterminate labor leaders, agrarian reformers, social democrats, and women's rights advocates. These are commands from the Colombian elite and their American allies. The killing of reformers is what the Americans hope to export to Venezuela.
19
Sentencing members of the military for the 2002-2010 "false positives" murders was a historic win for transparency and rule of law in Colombia.
The renewed military incentives to produce "measurable results" will result in the murder of civilians and activists on the left. This is not only a deeply troubling sign for peace in Colombia, but a huge setback for those who believe that the justice system in Colombia is capable of playing an important role in reconciliation and breaking patterns of institutionalized violence.
10
Decades of suffering for the idiotic US 'War on Drugs'. None of this actually curtails DEMAND for cocaine. This is the reality of America - the world's greatest problem.
19
@Sparky
I agree. Please put US agronomists to work to make home-grown coca a reality.....like marijuana, it would be the end of our troubles
2
The human species has a preponderance for violence no matter were it flourishes.
Rinse and repeat-globally.
4
As someone who studies Colombian politics and economics, this is right out of the Alvaro Uribe playbook. I am a strong support of the current president, Ivan Duque, but if he takes a hard right turn and goes back to the past, then it’ll be a short lived reign.
4
@Stephen Since before the elections, it was already known that Duque was the alfin of Alvaro Uribe, the worst murderer, and the creator of mass graves. The one that supported Duque was to support the false positives that were known to be reborn with him.
8
@Stephen are you surprised to find out that Ivan Duque is just another actor of Uribe's terror script? Everyone knew this throughout the elections...
2
A fine and informative article. Now, if only, in place of glitzy Netflix dramas celebrating Pablo Escobar and the War on Drugs, we could have the truth about the DEA’s role in Colombia. Yes, their role in the dirty war. Their role in training death-squads, in targeted assassinations, and, of course, in arranging safe passage to the USA for convicted cartel killers. A Mai Lai every day is the truth of Viet Nam; we didn’t learn nothing.
18
"Peace has been elusive."
mountains are settled
grass and shy clover embrace
yet crows stay busy
5
This is what happens when governments do not care about the welfare and lives of its citizens. People become targets to be eliminated, rather than persons who need help integrating into society. "Dracarys!"
7
Like a replay of Narcos in real life.
There is a generation now Gomez of age that knew nothing but war in the Colombian jungles and mountains from when they were born. With their grandparents also beyond pacifying, the cycle is reborn.
Where are the weapons coming from? What percentage of this is criminal versus political? Which politicians are supporting death squad militias?
Follow the money and you'll get answers - if you want answers, which it looks like many do not.
Except another generation of peaceful Cloumbians caught in the crossfire.
2
These ideas may be too difficult and it'# not for an outsider to tell
a country to be less immoral in trying to solve it's chronic crisis,
Use psychological stress evaluator, truth serum, and lie detection when
questioning.
Easy to suggest what may be unworkable.
.
Us, who live in Colombia, agree that our country shouldn´t remain as an oasis for criminals. Today, 250.000 hectares of Coca are grown in our territory! Cash for more crimes! Ex Farc raped thousands of children and are not even accept their crime, despite explicit complains. Demoralization for our people. One Farc boss planning to export coca -after the peace pact was signed-, was filmed while doing so, and still his comrades pretend him not to be punished. Other bands trying to take over regions next to Venezuela, with the help of Maduro´s gangs. And so on. Colombia must use the monopoly of the arms to assure never ever Colombia returns to be a land of criminals. And it is doing so, under strict rules
3
@Leugim
The "us" meant by you lack of statistic accuracy, use bias induced by minority holding power positions over functional illiterate population. The president you and your people support is only good to act as a gossip teller, has no background and skills to do what is really required.
Actually current president is about to beat presidential traveling time outside the country against record achieved by Pastrana.
2
@Leugim Colombia IS a land of criminals, starting with the current government, its murderous policies, and the guy behind this all: Alvaro Uribe.
3
@lemmond, so you do not agree that colombia should stop being a fairground for criminals? Farc needs to confess and admit their crimes pay for them and repair their victims. Nothing has happened, they’ve only increased their power by increasing their drug trafficking and using the “peace” treaty to get more power and establish their dangerous communist plan, all with the aid of Cuba and Venezuela. Duque needs to enforce the law to fight them back and bring real peace to the people.
Not pretty reading but maybe the price to pay to prevent their country disintegrating, like neighboring Venezuela.
1
@Mike Edwards
Probably this is what Maduro and cuba want to happen.
Cuba support guerrillas and Maduro enhance drug traffic and allows to deal weapons, this could lead people to choose their chess bishop to introduce XXI century socialism.
By the way, conservatives are nescient by stopping real social development due to their way to get wealth which is antique and obsolete.
@Mike Edwards -- This is more likely to cause the country to disintegrate. Paramilitary death squads and murder of villagers is not stability, and not a recipe for long term survival of government.
5
These ideas may be too difficult and it'# not for an outsider to tell
a country to be less immoral in trying to solve it's chronic crisis,
Use psychological stress evaluator, truth serum, and lie detection when
questioning.
Easy to suggest what may be unworkable.
.
Very sad that many colombians do not understand that violence just brings more violence. Unfortunately the press in Colombia never publish this kind of information , as a consequence, regular people is against any kind of approach to peace negotiations and , which is the worst, many reject the previous peace agreement with the FARC.
4
@Sandra D.The press in Colombia is publishing this information. You are not well informed.
We need to consider strongly, (with Panama's permission), sending troops to the Panama/Columbia border. This border has long been a tenuous situation and three years ago was closed due to Cuban migrants crossing to get to the US. This border is 139 miles long which includes 68 miles of undeveloped swampland which is very difficult to cross.
This military induced strife will cause a flurry of Columbian migrants headed to Panama since their other bordering countries are Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, and Equador, not their best choices for refuge. Once they get to Panama, their next borders are those of the violent Northern Triangle of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, none of which present any resistance.
So the choice is to stop them at a 139-mile border or wait and try to stop them at our 2000 mile US-Mexican border.
1
@Mark The conflict in Colombia traces back to 1948 and even prior to that, and there has been a big migration (statistics talk about 8 million people) from rural areas to cities inside the borders of the country due to the already mentioned internal conflict, if people wanted to migrate en masse to the US, you can bet you'd be already flooded with fellow citizens.
So no Mr. Mark, not everybody wants to go to the United States because it takes less physical, mental and financial effort to migrate to the safer andean cities (Bogotá/Medellín/Cali/Bucaramanga, etc...) or to Ecuador or Venezuela (at least prior to 1999). Besides, getting to Panama by land is a path that mostly migrants from Western Africa, Cuba and Haiti take, it is also extremely risky as one must traverse through the dense jungle of the Darien gap.
Well, here in the US when we had a civil war, we had men like General Sherman who made it a point to attack the enemy's civilian support base directly and "make Georgia howl." He wasn't about to stand around and let the Confederates wear him down in a drawn out gorilla war.
Was it ugly? Yes. Were innocent women and children killed? Yes. Would it be a war crime today? Yes. Was he out to win the hearts and minds of the enemy? No. Did it force the enemy to surrender and turn in its weapons? Yes. Would we have the America we have today if the Union had lost the war? No.
I think most can agree we are glad Sherman did what he had to do to win the war and bring it to a close.
Based on the fact that our military was defeated in Vietnam and is currently being defeated by the Taliban in Afghanistan, I think it's safe to say the US military's current strategy for fighting a gorilla war simply doesn't work. The "Surge" and our counter insurgency strategy in Iraq led directly to the creation of ISIS and destruction of much of Iraq.
Unfortunately, it may be that the Colombian Army has to do some ugly things to keep the guerrillas from turning their country into another Venezuela. The world would be a better place if wars didn't happen, but they do.
3
@John Chenango there is no civil war in Colombia. the Colombian government and its unarmed population are constantly under attack by the most powerful cocaine cartel that has ever existed and its allies from maduro and alquaeda.
5
@John Chenango I'm afraid you're applying a very universalist logic to the internal politics of Colombia.
The existence of the guerrillas traces back to the liberal-conservative violence in the first half of the 20th century (and if you ask me I'd trace it back to the nine civil wars of the XIX century, which actually started before the modern sovereign/independent state of "Colombia" was even a thing), and its mainly due to conflicts from inside the political class as well as confrontations for reasons related to land ownership and distribution, which has had profound consequences in the lives of the common citizens. There are actually multiple "factions" fighting in the conflict:
1. The government, who actually has participated in crimes aganst civilians.
2. The marxist guerrillas, which nowadays are comprised of: the ELN (still active), the FARC (now only the dissidence, which are people who refused to give up after the peace deal) and the EPL (most of its members demobilized in the 90's). There were various others which ceased to exist in the last 2-3 decades.
3.The Paramilitaries (Right-wing armed groups, that almost surely were entangled with the government of Mr. Uribe as well as the've been with narcotrafficking.) which persecuted/executed everyone who was accused of being a "communist" (a very ambigous political concept by the way), most of the members of these demobilized and lather became....
4. Organized crime bands.
5. Drug cartels, now disintegrated.
1
@Alejandro, I agree with you, we are under attack by the most powerful drug cartel in the world, even more powerful than Pablo Escobar in his golden days. This cartel is lead by corrupt narco-communists and backed up by Cuba and Maduro. They have money to fund dirty campaigns against our democracy and the great leaders that have fought them back.
We will stop all this senseless bigotry and killing. We are starting with the USA who now is a free market for lawlessness murder, baby jails and torture. How many countries will go this way? Australia just elected a Prime Minister who raves about Trump.
We need a women for President. Only women will care for life appropriately.
3
Columbia is back to extra judicial killing against civilians and anyone who supported the peace deal.
If anyone was planning on visiting Columbia for travel and vacation, reconsider. The risk of being kidnapped and held for ransom, as in the past, has returned.
4
@Maurie Beck: The fact is that Colombia has been having a tremendous increase in tourism from Europe, US, Canada, Japan, Canada, other Latin countries. With over 4 million foreign tourists in 2018, Colombia's tourism has grown by an average of 10% per year which is more than the global average increase of 6%. In 2002, foreign tourism was only 200 thousand. It is thanks to the great government of Uribe which restored security, safety and reduced murder rate by over 50%.
5
While any killing of innocents is unfortunate, it is perhaps impossible to fight an insurgency without some civilians being killed in the process. After all, guerillas are known for their ability to blend in with a civilian population. The FARC has itself resorted to killing innocents and facilitating the drug trade.
I am also highly skeptical of pieces by Western newspapers alleging human rights violations. The US condemns Venezuela for human rights violations but has itself installed dictators in Chile and Guatemala. As part of Operation Condor, the CIA helped sustain dictatorships across Latin America from Brazil to Paraguay.
My experience tells me that the US, or Western newspapers for that matter, do not typically condemn human rights violations by a party until and unless there is some motive behind it. Human rights is typically called into question so as to pressurise an establishment with which there are political differences, and as a means of gaining some leverage over it.
The Philippines has attempted to chart out a more sovereign path recently and so Duterte's drug war has been called into question. But when Ferdinand Marcos oversaw a tyrannical dictatorship, Reagan did not hesitate to wine and dine with him. NYT demonstrates its utility by running sensational stories based on personal accounts of disenchanted elements. It extrapolates from these accounts to paint a generic picture of chaos. Of course evidence-based research is against the ethos of the Times.
2
I'm building a small hotel on the pacific coast of Colombia, and over the past six months terrorist groups have killed ten people and kidnapped one man twice. I'm glad the government sent a special battalion to deal with these armed criminal gangs. The local people have demanded more soldiers and more national police.
10
@Westcoast Texan
So the fact that they are violating human rights doesn't matter? It sounds like your main concern is your foreign investment.
14
Conservatives want victory and not peace. The forces that are trying to shut down the leftist groups, and particularly the non-government ones that were supposed to be shut down along with the leftist groups, will also be useful in shutting down any challenges to the current Colombian income and wealth distribution. This would include challenges through politics and elections.
2
So, in a few words, it is called "killing by objective"; a cheap copy of "management by objectives."
The Colombian people need to arm themselves like here in the U. S. to defend themselves from the army and paramilitary groups.
5
@Dr. Ricardo Garres Valdez...You are naive to think an armed populace can defeat the military or paramilitaries supported by the government.
2
Sorry to disagree with the article. It´s content is misleading, offers poor citations and support, and is written to back leftist thoughts. It´s content was announced in Colombia days ago, and expected by opposition parties as background to promote a debate against the Minister of Defense. I live in Colombia, and know its current leadership. President Duque is doing everything needed to prevent Colombia from becoming the oasis for violence that use to be in the 20th century.
5
Sorry but I have to disagree. While I do support Duque and think he’s doing a great job leading Colombia into the future, these extra-judicial tactics are right out of the Alvaro Uribe playbook. And we all know they’re connected.
2
“Colombia is also under pressure from the Trump administration to show progress in cracking down on drug trafficking, a battle that has shown little progress despite $10 billion in American aid.”
Just think of what $10 billion could do in the US. Even with this money spent Columbia has had a bumper crop of coca for cocaine. The money is really being spent to support a right-wing leader, that supports the US having a large military presence there. While also allowing the US corporations to plunder their resources. If the Colombian government used their resources for helping the poor they would be quickly be overthrown by the US, like Trump is trying to do in Venezuela.
8
@steve..You are correct. "Show me the money"
5
It is so sad to think that the Colombia government is willing to reignite this nightmare. The Santos peace accord had a lot of merit. Unfortunately, the fake news that was promulgated during the 2018 election duped many people, similar to what occurred in our own 2016 election. Trump's goal is tear down the Obama legacy, just as Duque (and Uribe) aspire to do the same to Santos. Many Colombians want "rule of law" to prevail to cleanse the country of the atrocities that the guerrillas committed, and rightly so; nevertheless, they fail to recognize that the State actors and others were just as bad on both sides of the political spectrum. The "good, the bad and the ugly" permeated all sides in the conflict, and to bring all sides to justice is not feasible. The scope of the problem is enormous. One hundred percent of the Colombian populace has been impacted by the violence, either directly or by circumstance. How painful it must be to have suffered an injustice, personally, or on behalf of a loved one, and not get resolution. But "rule of law" cannot be achieved through "la venganza" that previously fueled the continuation of La Violencia in Colombia for two decades, and which in many ways has never gone away. It's time for Colombians to reject the right wing rhetoric that fuels the fallacious idea that a military victory might be achieved within a society that is completely divided on many of the political and social issues that lie at the root of contemporary problems.
15
Thank you NYT. Colombia has taken this road before under desperate circumstances. There is no need now. This policy may trigger a backlash of violence and all the peace efforts will be lost. I think the best approach was Santos's: peace attempts generate positive responses.
16
"increase the production." As soon as I read that first line, it sounded like something only a commercial person would say, and it sounded like somebody who's having pressure from the US, from somebody who sees the conflict there as a question of "production" "producing" the results. Sounds like they're getting pressure from the US, somebody with a bit of a Wall Street world view, somebody who's worldview is of "increased production," more and more.
9
It’s well known that the peace agreement has led to another illegal groups to emerged and apart from that to the illegal crops to grown. Inevitably that caused a huge pressure to get this numbers down, I certainly approve the fight against illegal groups which is the duty of our troops but it’s sad to hear unlawful executions has taken place again against innocent peasants. whatever it takes to protect this people that have already suffered enough. is it time to talk about drug legalization? people are dying and we need to do something to protect them, I think it’s clear that this war hasn’t brought nothing but victims.
8
@Camilo Ospina Molano No, It's not "well known" that the pece agreement led to new illegal groups to emerge. Read the international newspapers, including the NYTs and this article, instead of the propaganda that Uribe and the current president want to spread but continue to fail, at least in the eyes of the international community.
5
Why does the Colombian government allow violent paramilitary groups to operate with impunity in the countryside? Most of the leftist rebels disarmed but the rightist paramilitaries did not, making peace impossible, especially when the paras are hired guns for the wealthy farmers and businessmen. The government needs to disarm all groups, not just the left.
42
It's good to remember that Paramilitary Groups had their own peace treaty, with the subsequent disbanding.
That process had a fair amount of justice? Well, it's a difficult discussion, but now is a history lesson.
What is truth is the Farc deal was branding as the end of war in Colombia. That was and is a lie. Colombia is more complex, more diverse than only one armed guerrilla peace deal.
Now, we are in a political turmoil. The general attorney abdicated two days ago. The transitional justice are in danger. The justice branch have the lowest reputation in recent years. The country is a hot pot.
And now this. It's a truly bad new. The political parties have to calm down. This political struggle only damaged the institucional frame and democracy.
6
@Hector if you knew a little bit about Colombia, you would be saying such of fallacy. Paramilitaries were demobilized, their leaders jailed and deported to the USA, back in 2005. Understood?
1
@Hector because the paramilitaries were created by the ex-president and now congressman, Alvaro Uribe, who basically is once again ruling the country through the new unexperienced politician who out of sudden won the presidency during the last election (the guy in the picture- Ivan Duque). Basically, the current Colombian government and the paramilitaries are the same thing. It's awful.
7
It is very strange and dangerous to have quotas in law enforcement as opposed to simply enforcing the law when need be.
8
Thank God for a free press. It exposes those nefarious activities which bubble to the surface and shines light on it not only here in the USA but even in Colombia. In general, good will eventually triumph over evil with a free press.
5
@Covfefe yes.. thanks for the free press and for only allowing comments that agree with the author and for not accepting the true!
Is it the 'nearness' that modern news media brings to us or has the world become a much more brutal, violent place over the last 25 or so years? The second, I think.
Us Westerners are not holier than though - when not actively pursuing wars, countries like US, UK and France are turning a healthy profit selling the instruments of violence and - particularly for one of those nations - projecting a jutting-jaw, glowering, passive aggression to the rest of the world.
7
For an anti-dote to worry that the world is becoming more violent, read The Better Angels of Our Nature by Stephen Pinker. The internet brings us news from everywhere but the spotlight on unjust violence may help decrease it, just like books did, according to Pinker.
2
@nolongeradoc
Unfortunately, the U.S. "powers that be" seemed perfectly happy to give away our refrigerator-making jobs, but the guns and bombs jobs not so. To keep the economy "humming along", the current president is now happy to have outmoded tanks made in the state of Ohio. And apparently one "bigly" reasons we're such pals with Saudi Arabia has to do with airplane sales.
2
That the tactics are ordered from the top down, and in the past the “top” has always had a direct line to US purse strings, should be very troubling to the American taxpayers that fund the Colombian military.
10
How long has the Colombian military been under investigation for these “false positives?”
Let’s pick up the pace to get ahead of this.
4
“false positives;” yet another example of semantic surrealism!
A policy is created by a powerful person,
who will be personally unaccountable, to increase killing (a.k.a. MURDER)
of an innocent, or many;
by someone without the power
(whatever their personal norms, values and ethics) to reject the order, and
choose not to violate.
Years later, NOW, little having been learned, to
make a difference that can make a
needed difference for creating and
sustaining equitable wellbeing for ALL,
the policy is “resurrected;” in a
revised WE-THEY mantrafied-scenario.
National Security is once again threatened.
Deaths to the...
And the bands played on...
Investigations MAY follow; or NOT.
Mass graves may be uncovered. Or not.
National security needs protecting from...
Another article.
Another documented ummenschlich EVENT?
Another meeting somewhere?
What’s on NETFLIX tonight?
2
Someone should tell them how useful body-counts were to the US as a win/lose metric in Vietnam.
14
Your comments come at a very difficult time in the country, where politics are extremely polarized. I would like you to visit the conflict zones in Colombia, along with an army counter guerrilla squadron and verify yourself, how complicated is the situation where a non regular war is taking place.
With that direct perspective, you can have a more clear concept of how the internal war is going through the different regions. For one moment think about Vietnam, where many bad things happened. In Colombia, one of the more important rules army has, is to protect the civilians between the conflict. Who really does not care is the enemy of Colombia.
1
@JKMedina The Colombian army has never protected the civilians. Thus the "false positives" and what this article is reporting.
4
Who is supporting these proxy forces?
5
the politicians enlist the army to take out the opposition with little regard of civilians life, and the law of the land.
when will that army turn around and usurp the power for themselves ?
1
10$ Billion in American aid? Willing to bet that a chunk of that money bought Columbian insiders some nice haciendas.
The war on drugs. Our tax dollars on a one-way trip to nowhere with nothing to show, except sales of American helicopters and arms to South American Armies.
16
That is a very vague amount. Colombia militar expenses are one the world highest in relative terms.
A big part of our public resources goes to the defense sector, not for strategic acquisitions, just to maintain a vast amount of troops in a no conventional war.
Im just lazy to bring sources, but you can Google it.
3
According to Mao Zedong the peasants are the fish who will make and sustain a civilian guerrilla uprising revolution one brutal inhumane government political injustice at a time. See Sun Tzu too.
1
Venezuela and Colombia in South America. Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras in Central America. We speak of terrorists from the Middle East? They exist in those other Americas south of ours. Innocent people - children, women, men - are nothing to the corrupt violence we are watching. They stand in the way of leaders', actually dictators', lust for power and greed. We thought Colombia had finally found peace and stability. But its cancer was just in remission. It has awoken and is metastasizing. So little we here can do when we ourselves have a president resistant to diplomatically arbitrating and mediating. His answer rather than helping is also destruction, more insidious but nevertheless present.
5
@Kathy Lollock can we agree that the cancer is fueled by consumption?
1
And don’t forget Nicaragua!!! Maybe not as “newsworthy” as others, but the country is living a nightmare.
1
1. What type of figures are you using when you refer to 10 billion in aid? Is this the Plan Colombia funds or the funds for countering narcotics? If it’s the first then that figure is misleading, if not it would be helpful if you published a chart or something with those numbers.
2. Calling Iván Duque a “conservative” is like calling Donald Trump a “conservative” that’s a hilarious line.
7
This story basically shows that Colombia's current president, Iván Duque-Márquez, surrendered his power to his mentor, former president, and current senator, Álvaro Uribe-Vélez. It was Uribe (2002-2010) who master-minded the policy of providing members of the Army with financial and other material incentives to "show results." This led to the systematic extra judicial executions of some 10,000 innocent people --known to Colombians as "falsos positivos"-- during Uribe's two terms. When that story broke at that time, with cases of even disabled youngsters being taken away from their homes by the Army with all kinds of tricks, only to be found dead far way a few weeks later dressed up in guerrilla-type uniforms, it would be Uribe himself who would justify these killings with the infamous phrase "They were not likely to be picking coffee." And that is exactly where Colombia is back again.
40
@Patricia And who was Uribe’s Defense Minister Patricia ? Juan Manuel Santos, so who executed the false positives ? How come he’s not in jail ?
2
The article unfortunately neglects to connect the political dotted line between the rampant murders committed earlier by the Colombian armed forces dubbed "false positives" and the aggressive orders for engagement in the article.
The "false positive" scandal occurred during the presidency of Álvaro Uribe, a far right-wing politician with connections to Colombian right-wing paramilitaries and narco-traffickers. Current Colombian president, Iván Duque, is a protégée of Uribe and a member of his right-wing political party.
30
This story recalls more than Columbian atrocities in their war against rebels over the years. The Dec. 6, 1993 edition of The New Yorker, published a story of atocities against civilians by the American-trained and funded anti-insurgency section of the Salvadoran National Guard, Atlacatl. The article specifically reported on what became known as The Massacre at El Mozote, first reported in "Times Magazine" in February 1982.
It was part of the Reagan administration's perception of Communism's spread through Central America. Photographers and journalists, denied access to the village by Salvadoran officials and our ambassador, they came in through the east coast, guided by survivors, through dangerous mountains to reach the village of skeletal remains.
It was all part of the "hammer and anvil" strategy of the Salvadoran army to wipe out entire villages to "teach others a lesson" about supporting the rebels.
The journalists and photographers reported infant and adult bodies still hanging from trees, of groups of bodies everywhere; even the skeletons of babies were found on the ground in their huts, with bullet rounds in the dirt under their bodies. All found bullets were the same as fired from American M-16's, the rifles provided by the Pentagon to the Salvadoran army.
Without the report from El Mozote, the mulitple slaughters of civilians in El Salvador might never been known in the U.S. Coverups of murder by state forces in Latin America remain a problem today.
36
@David Ohman
Thank you for this information that I was unaware of. Of course, as you point out, there are many other instances of the indiscriminate killing of civilians by government or paramilitary forces both in El Salvador and other central and South American countries that have been covertly or even openly supported and in some cases organised by American administrations, most notably Ronald Regan's.
The over all result was complete chaos in most cases. The regimes that were installed to fight the 'communist threat' were unimaginably violent and corrupt, as well as being incompetent and utterly contrary to the best interests of the countries involved. The legacy of America's interference in these countries is an abiding distrust of our intentions in the region as a whole.
2
The government is following the failed Vietnam counterinsurgency model based on body counts. A major reason America lost the war was because it was reduced to the insane logic that killing people, even innocent civilians, alone would bring victory.
Ignored was the fact that this brutal and senseless course also engendered intense hatred for the U.S. and the corrupt government of South Vietnam.
11
Doesn't trump understand that the war on drugs has never worked beginning with perhaps Regans efforts. What is wrong with these conservatives, get rid of drugs but drink plenty of booze. The only way the war on drugs will work is to legalize all drugs and allow people to be responsible for themselves regarding their use or disuse of substances. It appears that the trump administration wants to get involved in Columbia's internal affairs. Time for us to stop being the world police department.
5
When the revolutionaries "neogranadinos" of 1810 temporarily acceded to power taking advantage of the Napoleonic invasion of Spain, one of their first political decisions was to end the "resguardos" a collective institution of property and usufruct of the land designed by the Spanish crown to protect the natives from the abuses of the Spanish conquerors.
Since then land ownership has been concentrated in a few and the history of Colombia has been marked by conflicts and war over their property. This is the great tragedy of the country. The systematic exclusion and genocide of peasants and ethnic groups, which today makes Colombia the most unequal country in the western hemisphere after Haiti.
The ignorance of this reality, the historical concealment of the truth of countless civil wars that remain until today keep this country plunged into violence and illegality.
27
It is SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) for irregular forces to blend with civilians. This gives them two advantages; it makes them harder to find, and it draws the regular forces into killing non-combatants. This in turn drives the world, and the civilian population, to support the irregular forces.
The phrase "hearts and minds" comes to mind here.
If the irregular forces wear uniforms, the calculus changes. It is much easier to avoid killing non-combatants when you can identify the enemy combatants.
Ordering the military to simply make more kills and captures without offering a new strategy is like ordering sales people to sell more of the same old product without a new marketing plan.
Finally, what is it about Columbia that makes it such fertile ground for this long insurrection? I haven't heard that Columbia's government is overly repressive. The people don't appear to be starving or living in vast ghettos. Other South and Central American countries have insurrections that come and go, but this one seems to go on forever. What is the root cause? What is it about Columbia?
7
@mlbex
Non-uniformed insurgents are the new normal as more of the warfare in the world is with guerrilla forces with little more than small arms and pickup trucks [strangely, mostly Toyota trucks]. With religious faith as the foundation of their insurgency, they will never quit. Little wonder we have been in Afghanistan for 17 years. The insurgents attack and go home, melting into their villages until the next firefight calls them to action.
Columbia is no different.
@David Ohman My friend, Colombia's ongoing and apparently unending war is far from being a religious conflict or from being related to a religious cause. Marxists guerrillas emerged as a result of the bipartisan wars between Liberals and Conservatives during the first half of the last century. This ideological conflicts continue to exist and are partly to blame for the armed struggles that we see and which peaked in the 80's and through the mid 2000's with Álvaro Uribe Velez's coming to power. His policy of Democratic Security made counterinsurgency and anticommunism Colombia's main national defense policy. The government in Colombia and Colombians have always had a particular contempt for leftist groups whether legal or illegal and these groups tend to cause unrest among most Colombians, which is notable given the regional occupation of socialist governments in South America during Uribe's administration, which were promoted and sponsored by Hugo Chávez from Venezuela. In summary, Colombia's rejection of armed or unarmed socialist groups is deeply rooted and accounts for much of the insurgency and rebellion that remain in our territory. However, these groups do find a source of support in peasants and other marginal communities in rural areas that harbor mercenaries and combatants, and adhere to the cause of social justice that these criminal groups use as a political flag since the assassination of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán in 1948.
5
@mlbex "I haven't heard that Columbia's government is overly repressive." --you just read an article about a new government military policy to kill more people with less certainty as to their involvement in revolutionary activities -what more evidence of a repressive government do you need?
2
I am from the US and have spent a great deal of time in Colombia. While it’s sad to see the current resurgence of violence I want to state unequivocally that the view of many in the US that Colombia is a dangerous and lawless place bears no resemblance to the truth. Colombians are kind and thoughtful and during extensive travels in Colombia I have never encountered the slightest security problem. Colombia is a beautiful country, with its highly varied terrain and extensive biodiversity (ranking #1 in the world per square kilometer). There are a few places it is currently wise to avoid but the vast majority of the country is safe.
65
@David Rosen Good point. One might say the same about the United States.
4
Not surprising from an administration like this one. For them, crime actions again guerillas, left-militants and human rights activists will always be justified. Our press cannot do its job because threads will come up. Thanks for writing about our deadliest country under Duque's regime. They'd call you 'mamerto'.
15
Imagine: new era of “false positives” after having signed a peace agreement after a five decades violent conflict... let’s wait for Duque’s reaction...
3
Duque is the puppet boy of Uribe and they have undone all progress.
Please look at “aqui no hay muertos” by maria mcfarland. Please look at “nuestra guerra ajena” german castro caycedo
15
Awful
6
More proof, if any were ever needed, that the US should not attempt to intervene in the affairs of South America, Africa and Asia. They have their own internal blood feuds to fight -- and will. Our meddling only can make things worse, and we wll be blamed for anything that goes wrong on either side of every dispute. We gain nothing but grief and notoriety. Does our history on those continents not prove this? Let us stay out of Venezuela and Colombia and pay less attention to their feuds.
33
I agree, while not believing in it, that the US should not intervene in South American affairs. At least not by taking sides and enabling violent rulers. But to pay less atention is so wrong. Why can't the US pay atention and honestly and peacefully help solving conflicts that take thousands of civilian lifes? Violence deserves atention wherever it happens, be it in a South American country or in a North American highschool.
8
Ultimately the new president is responsible for this policy. Unfortunately Colombia hasn't learned the lesson of World War II. Rebuilding Europe and helping the vanquished renovate their societies led to the tremendous post-war economic boom and a prosperous Germany. In Colombia, they are doing exactly the opposite, trying to keep the vanquished down. No Marshall Plan. It doesn't look good.
21
Sadly, in Colombia there are different criminal groups that number a few thousand units engaging in a war of criminal activities of all sorts aimed at disturbing 45 million law abiding citizens.
1
I wholeheartedly agree. I am from the US but I currently live in Bogotá. I have spent quite a bit of time in Columbia and have never encountered anyone who wishes to see more violence. It is obviously a very small number of people who are driving conflict. But the overwhelming majority of Colombians obviously are repelled by the violence and wish to see peace.
18
Criminal organizations... among which... the Colombian Army.
11
Mexico the Failed State run by Cartels could use a large dose of Colombian style intervention. At least Colombia hasnt given up the fight recent developments notwithstanding. Fighting entrenched criminals isnt easy.
2