Democratización política contrarreforma paramilitar en Colombia

Abstract

The work examines the phenomenon of the paramilitary in the context of the political modernization begun in 1982 with the peace negotiations between the government and leftist guerrillas, the political opening, and later the decentralization and the first election of mayors in 1987. Examining the emergence of armed groups with the opposite political orientation to that of the guerrilla, this article attempts to locate them in a wider convergence of opposition to any reform that redistributes power and wealth in the rural sector, as a result of a successful negotiation with the insurgents. The article identifies three key actors in the reaction againts political modernization: the drug traffickers, the economic elites and local politicians, largely rooted in the Liberal party, and sectors of the armed forces. Of the aforementioned actors, the analysis gives the role of the armed forces and their conception of the armed conflict a greater explanatory weight in the trajectory that the possible democratization has followed and the visible state dissolution over the last decade in Colombia. Yet, the work has also considered the absence of civil leadership in the political sectors, in particular in the Liberal party, the group that held the reins of power nationally, with parliamentary majorities during the years 1986 to 1998.