Government, NGOs and the Paramilitary: A Colombian contradiction

Abstract

James J. Brittain analyzes the contradictions that affect non-governmental organizations (NGOs)' activity in Colombia. He protests that even as it discredits and opposes NGOs and human rights organizations, the Colombian state has supported and used paramilitary-funded NGOs to implement Plan Colombia and thereby impose a neo-liberal economic order. As a result of this contradictory policy, poor Colombians do not benefit from NGO interventions but, indeed, end up suffering from the retaliation of state forces and paramilitary groups.