Colombia is Safer … and Other Matters

Abstract

This presentation focuses on some important general topics related to aggression and terrorism, with an special emphasis on the situation of security in Colombia. First there is an overview of the violence in Colombia, showing its re- cent achievements in security, with a decrease of the activity of the leftist guerrillas and the rightwing paramilitaries. But Colombia is still not safe enough due to the increase of criminal gangs, mostly purely criminal, dedicated to the cocaine trade, and lacking the ideological conviction of their forebears. Some of the more important sequels, such as the situation of millions of dispossessed are also considered, suggesting the need of an effective agrarian reform as being part of any real solution. The second part is dedicated to more general topics related to aggression and terrorism: their interactions with psychobiology, such as the psychological profile and sexual differences in terrorists or the psychological impact of the nuclear terrorism, the impact of education (school, family and mass media) and of criminal justice (from conceptual considerations on the balance between security and freedom to more specific attempts of rehabilitation of delinquents). Lastly, founded on the message of the Seville Statement on Violence proclaimed a quarter century ago, a hopeful conside- ration about the future is done.