Colombian State Research Articles

“Vacunas”: Permanence of Crime in The New Dynamics of Violence and Post-Agreement in Colombia

Objective: This study aims to explore the criminal dynamics and socioeconomic implications of extortion, specifically the "vacuna" (protection payment) phenomenon, in Colombia. It seeks to understand how this practice contributes to the persistence of crime and violence, and how victims manage and cope with this form of violence. Theoretical Frmework: The literature review is based on the theory of psychological coercion, where the threat and intimidation through force are used as a means of social control, as well as the economics of crime, which proposes that criminality is a rational act aimed at maximizing benefits for offenders. Finally, the theory of the state and security explains how the absence of the state in Colombia allows criminal groups to assume roles of "protection." Method: A qualitative approach was adopted, using semi-structured and unstructured interviews with merchants and business owners in the Department of Santander, Colombia. The study focuses on a narrative approach, allowing victims to express their experiences with extortion. This method aims to capture the diversity of perspectives and coping practices in response to the crime. Results and Discussion: The results reveal that extortion persists as a common practice due to weak state presence and the transformation of criminal actors. It was observed that victims, both individually and collectively, develop diverse strategies to confront extortion. The study also identifies the perpetrators, although in many cases, victims are unable or unwilling to directly point out their aggressors due to fear of reprisals. Research Implications: The findings suggest the need to rethink public policies focused on security and wealth distribution in Colombia. Strengthening state presence in regions most affected by violence and improving protection mechanisms for extortion victims is crucial. Originality/Value: This study provides a detailed and contextualized analysis of a criminal practice that has been underrepresented in academic literature. By focusing on the voices and experiences of the victims, it offers new insights into the dynamics of power and violence in Colombia, highlighting the importance of addressing structural inequalities to mitigate crime and violence.

Project: Malecón Buenaventura, Urban Regeneration For The Southern Area of The Island of Cascajal

Objective: The objective of this research is to generate the solution from the urban planning of informal settlements located in the southern area of Cascajal Island, which have been settled in an ancestral way on low-water strips which are declared as goods for public use by the Colombian State, being the same in constant illegality; establishing the following specific objectives: Interpret the current regulations, given in Law 185/59, Decree Law 2424/84 and Agreement 03/01; constituting the baseline of urban planning, to generate new urban fiscal land, and minimize the non-mitigable risk. Carry out urban planning; taking into account the instruments of complementary planning; developed through six units of urban actions. Theoretical reference: On the goods of public use (bajamares) it is impossible to establish legal processes for formal habitats; therefore, they must be converted into fiscal assets in favor of the District of Buenaventura, to solve the settlements towards the required formality, taking into account the incidence towards the normative framework of the current territorial order given by Law 185/59 and Decree Law 2324/84 Method: The methodological approach was qualitative of analytic-relational type, through the normative interpretation of Law 185/59 and Decree Law 2324/84 in relation to the current territorial order; and whose data collection instruments were the documentation of normative files and government sources of district level linked to the ownership of fiscal assets Result and conclusion: The expected results showed the proposed resolution as a dynamic of the urban law towards the specific implication for the territorial ordering; which raises that they must contemplate the particularities of the territories and from there generate the solutions that solve the socioeconomic, urban and environmental problems that by the inability of the State itself are perpetuated in time and where the same rules do not allow to generate the solutions. Implications of the research: The urban solution proposed, demonstrates the effectiveness within urban law, of the specific regulatory interpretations on the territorial ordering Originality/Value: The research on the solution of informal settlements on low-water areas in the city of Buenaventura (southern area of Cascajal Island); presents a significant originality and value for the welfare state of the poorest and most vulnerable communities, contributing to their quality of life.

The Antarctic Continent: a geostrategic interest of the Colombian State

The purpose of this research article is to determine the geostrategic relevance for the Colombian State, reflected in policies, research and institutional architecture that covers the Antarctic continent. The argumentation and analysis are supported by primary and secondary sources, which allow visualizing the characteristics, conditions, contributions and projection of Colombia in the Antarctic Treaty System. As a working hypothesis, Colombia has identified Antarctica as part of a geostrategic interest -from a humanistic and investigative perspective- and has deployed a series of institutional efforts in the last 30 years to approach the understanding of the region. As conclusions, there is a clear oceanic, aerial, cyberspace, space, climatic and biological connection between Colombia, represented in public institutions -such as the Foreign Ministry and the Military Forces- and educational institutions -such as universities and research centers- and the Antarctica, inserting it in this way as a geostrategic interest of the country

The evaluation of job performance as a mechanism for meeting institutional goals. A case study in the Risaralda, regional SENA

such as satisfaction, motivation, autonomy, or abandonment. However, its role in meeting organizational goals constitutes a fundamental and insufficiently explored topic. The purpose of the study was to establish the importance of evaluating work performance in organizations of the Colombian state sector and its influence on the achievement of the objectives of the Sena, regional Risaralda. The study had a mixed design that was developed as a case study. A literature review was carried out, a questionnaire was applied, semi-structured interviews were carried out, and inferences were drawn from participant observation. The results point to a divided assessment of the EDL performance evaluation as a tool for meeting the institutional goals of the entity. In addition, the need to raise awareness on the subject, delve into the perception of the factors associated with the process, and introduce changes based on the data obtained was confirmed.

Peasant Displacement and Food Sustainability: The Colombian Case

Social migration affects the development of rural territories in multiple ways, as it poses a threat to food security and hinders the achievement of sustainable development objectives. The purpose of this research is to represent peasant migration and measure its impact on food security, since it creates conditions that alter people’s access to healthy food. Our research question is: What variables can be used to measure the impact of peasant migration on food security? A three-stage model is implemented, which includes (i) the acquisition of knowledge, (ii) the representation of knowledge, and (iii) decision-making. These stages are the basis of the methodology developed by the ARCOSES research group (Méndez A. System Dynamics and Social Problems. Bogotá: Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, 2012). The model developed to represent peasant migration and its impact on food security has five components. The model representation was applied in 58 typical rural municipalities, observing a potential loss of 30,580,000 tons of food, which amounts to 5% of the national production. Likewise, it was observed that 70% of migrating farmers are part of the economically active population. Colombian governorships should strive towards a greater and more comprehensive development of rural municipalities in order to avoid massive displacement to urban regions, which affects the availability of rural labor, causes poor agricultural production levels and compromises food sustainability. To ensure peasants’ full access to food and their well-being, an assertive intervention should be carried out by the Colombian State.

Educación y acciones afirmativas para atender la diversidad étnica en Colombia

The Colombian State, starting with the 1991 Constitution, declared itself as a Social State of Law where the values of Human Rights become a fundamental pillar in the construction of an inclusive society that respects ethnic difference. In this sense, the article aims to describe the legislative developments, particularly, laws and decrees in which affirmative actions are materialized in order to guarantee the right to education of ethnic minorities from their realities and cultural particularities in Colombia, which which is fundamental for the fulfillment of other rights, such as identity, health, among others. To do this, a qualitative investigation is carried out focused on documentary analysis, taking as a reference the laws and decrees published since the Political Constitution of 1991. Documentary analysis is a research methodology that uses documents as a source of information. Documents can be of various types, such as books, articles, reports, etc. Document analysis allows the researcher to obtain information about a specific topic, understand different perspectives on a problem, and develop new ideas. The results show the legal advances in this matter. However, their weaknesses are also evident, which have led to difficulties for the population to effectively access the joy and enjoyment of education, based on its ethnic diversity.

The Paradox of Diasporic Peacebuilding Amidst Violence: Providing Reparations to Colombians Abroad

ABSTRACT: This article uses the case of Colombian migrants in the United States (U.S.) who are registered with the Colombian Unit for Victims to illustrate the tension that emerges when a home country commits to reparations for nationals in exile when violence in their home country has not ceased. Bridging studies on transitional justice, diasporas, and displacement, we show the disconnect between the Colombian state's original goal to assist with return as the primary form of reparation and displaced Colombians' goals for stability, particularly legal status, abroad. Through interviews with Colombian officials and U.S.-based migrants, our findings show the unique dynamics of transnational reparations and the specific issue facing migrants from war-torn countries when their country of origin engages in transitional justice interventions.

Distinction within the ‘global north’? A Bourdieusian approach for analysing development discourse: The case of U.S. and E.U. relations with the Colombian state (2016–2022): A comparative analysis

The paper conducts a comparative analysis of EU (91 texts) and US (93 texts) discourses concerning post-peace accord Colombia (late 2016 to mid-2022). Employing a Bourdieu-influenced methodology, our proposal aims to reconcile Post-Development theories with International Relations research. This innovative and multidimensional approach illuminates both discursive continuities within Global North while concurrently providing a framework that allows to identify and interpret internal political divergences. Our findings highlight a shared commitment to a liberal conception of peacebuilding, alongside internal distinction strategies employed to legitimize respective policies towards Colombia.

Constitutional adequacy of the Colombian disciplinary procedure contained in law 1952 of 2019, to the jurisprudential pronouncements of the Constitutional Court

The Colombian State has different powers to correct or repel irregularities that arise in compliance with the purposes that the Political Constitution has enshrined as such, among which is disciplinary power as an element that contributes to the preservation of legality. within public institutions by monitoring the actions of public servants. This is how the procedure to investigate disciplinary offenses was made based on Law 734 of 2002, until the entry into force of Law 1952 of 2019, with which the General Disciplinary Code is issued, whose purpose is to unify the procedure for investigate the actions of the servers that possibly stand as fouls. Thus, several pronouncements have been made by the Constitutional Court regarding the enforceability of the aforementioned provision and some of its articles, which are analyzed in this article for the purpose of analyzing the adequacy of the disciplinary procedure contained in Law 1952. of 2019, with the constitutional postulates during the years 2019 to 2022

Lomalinda: Enclave of a Modern/Colonial Project. Notes on the Instituto Lingüístico de Verano in Colombia

From the 1950s to the 1990s, the Instituto Lingüístico de Verano (ILV) was present in Colombia. It worked on the indoctrination of indigenous communities by translating the New Testament into their languages. This article presents an approach to the actions of the ILV in the country and attempts to outline its relationships with the institutional framework of the Colombian State and with the establishment of anthropology in the country. In this line, based on a documentary and ethnographic approach, the historical trajectory of the ILV is traced and its project is framed as a modern-colonial project. Among the results, it is proposed that the relationship between the ILV and Colombian anthropology was tangential in nature and was referred to the confluence of interests in indigenous policies and to a critical positioning of some anthropologists.

Everyday immigration ethics: Colombia, Venezuela and the case for vernacular response

ABSTRACT In the last decade, Venezuelans have faced a range of challenges such that by 2023, nearly 7.2 million have fled, the vast majority hosted within the region. One country particularly stands out: Colombia has accepted over 2.5 million. Colombia’s behaviour does not appear motivated by legal obligations or universal ethical principles; it is hard to make sense of in terms of international ethical and political theory. Rather, Colombian state and society make reference to mundane, localised concepts of friendship, fraternity and the reciprocity of a shared history. Such everyday ethics is generally ignored in existing debates. I argue that immigration ethics could helpfully begin from concrete, everyday ethical behaviour rather than idealisation and abstraction. Instead of initially asking what states and societies should do regarding immigration, we could ask what do they already do, why and how? This article therefore explores how Colombian politicians and civil society actors understood their welcoming actions through an awareness of entangled histories, reciprocity, friendship and solidarity: everyday, vernacular ways in which responsibility-taking is rationalised and practiced. My argument is not that Colombia’s actions are normatively right, or an enactment of immigration justice. Rather, these actions were ambivalent: the messy, pragmatic result of negotiating different, competing responsibilities, principles and emotions. The results were imperfect, heavily gendered, but also unprecedented. Those advocating greater societal responsibility for immigrants would perhaps do best to look beyond the global north, shun the universal and start from local activities founded in vernacular, everyday ethics.

Enabling countries to manage outbreaks: statistical, operational, and contextual analysis of the early warning and response system (EWARS-csd) for dengue outbreaks.

Dengue is currently the fastest-spreading mosquito-borne viral illness in the world, with over half of the world's population living in areas at risk of dengue. As dengue continues to spread and become more of a health burden, it is essential to have tools that can predict when and where outbreaks might occur to better prepare vector control operations and communities' responses. One such predictive tool, the Early Warning and Response System for climate-sensitive diseases (EWARS-csd), primarily uses climatic data to alert health systems of outbreaks weeks before they occur. EWARS-csd uses the robust Distribution Lag Non-linear Model in combination with the INLA Bayesian regression framework to predict outbreaks, utilizing historical data. This study seeks to validate the tool's performance in two states of Colombia, evaluating how well the tool performed in 11 municipalities of varying dengue endemicity levels. The validation study used retrospective data with alarm indicators (mean temperature and rain sum) and an outbreak indicator (weekly hospitalizations) from 11 municipalities spanning two states in Colombia from 2015 to 2020. Calibrations of different variables were performed to find the optimal sensitivity and positive predictive value for each municipality. The study demonstrated that the tool produced overall reliable early outbreak alarms. The median of the most optimal calibration for each municipality was very high: sensitivity (97%), specificity (94%), positive predictive value (75%), and negative predictive value (99%; 95% CI). The tool worked well across all population sizes and all endemicity levels but had slightly poorer results in the highly endemic municipality at predicting non-outbreak weeks. Migration and/or socioeconomic status are factors that might impact predictive performance and should be further evaluated. Overall EWARS-csd performed very well, providing evidence that it should continue to be implemented in Colombia and other countries for outbreak prediction.

Acciones colectivas para la construcción de paz con perspectiva interseccional. El caso de la Asociación de Mujeres Afrodescendientes de Yolombó (ASOMUAFROYO)

Afro-descendant communities, especially ethnically differentiated women, have been victims of the historical neglect of the Colombian State. They have suffered the systematic violation of their fundamental rights due to social inequality, discrimination and the violence caused by the Colombian armed conflict. The objective of this article is to analyze, through a qualitative methodology, the organizational experience and collective actions for peace taken by the Association of Afro-descendant Women from Yolombó (ASOMUAFROYO), North Cauca. An intersectional perspective based on the categories of race/ethnicity, gender, and class as key points that structure peacebuilding initiatives is adopted. As a result, it was found that the definition of peace is linked to territory and ancestry, and that collective actions focus on meeting the needs of the community and make up for the historical shortcomings of the Colombian state in their territory.

Gozo e passagem para a vida civil: o caso de um ex-combatente das FARC-EP

Abstract: We present some research findings on the subjective responses around the jouissance, before the semblances offered by the Other, in the case of a former FARC-EP combatant. The purpose was to locate the significant coordinates that determine their position of jouissance with respect to their choice to sign the Peace Agreement with the Colombian State. As a finding, this step was possible when re-encountering the master signifiers that give consistency to his illusion of being something for the Other, maintaining a certain share of drive satisfaction, structural, beyond the phenomenology of the war scenario.

Progress in the responsibility of the colombian state based on the recommendations of the inter-american court of human rights contained in the rulings against Colombia

Este artículo contiene un planteamiento analítico de los 30 fallos proferidos por la CorteIDH contra el Estado Colombiano, y la forma como la justicia contencioso-administrativa ha incorporado dichos contenidos en las Sentencias del Consejo de Estado. Lo anterior, permite evidenciar avances, retrocesos y retos de la justicia contencioso-administrativa para lograr la efectiva garantía y protección judicial en todos los casos que se investiguen, y la armonización del sistema jurídico interno con las exigencias del Sistema interamericano de Derechos Humanos.

“Hygiene, Agriculture, and Men”: Rural Health in 1930s and 40s Colombia

In 1934, Alfonso López Pumarejo, the recently elected president of Colombia, announced that expanding government programs in public health and education would be a priority for his administration. This article analyzes this period’s cultural transformation programs, examining the establishment and operation of sanitary units, mixed healthcare centers, and itinerant rural health commissions in the 1930s and the 1940s. It proposes a two-part argument. First, it demonstrates how reformers, intellectuals, and doctors associated with Latin America’s first wave of social medicine transformed existing institutional spaces to serve the aims of the government’s new public health model, designing and implementing programs to extend healthcare into the countryside. They proposed shifting from campaigns focused on eradicating a single disease to campaigns that tackled multiple diseases and also advocated for an increase in national, departmental, and municipal fiscal contributions to public health programs. Second, it touches upon the fiscal and resource-related challenges that limited these programs’ reach. These challenges illustrate the fractured and fragmented nature of the Colombian state and its lack of capacity to effectively integrate the countryside by reaching often neglected remote rural areas.

Disentangling the paths of land grabbing in Colombia: The role of the state and legal mechanisms

This article aims to reconstruct the progression of land grabbing in Colombia by identifying the sequence of mechanisms and strategies employed to dispossess and seize land through specific case studies. The analysis centres around 12 estates/farms with a history of violence, dispossession, and the utilisation of legal mechanisms, enabling the identification of certain historical patterns and how changes in the legal framework contribute significantly to these trajectories. The analysis was conducted through a systematic literature review, resulting in the reconstruction of multiple stages and modalities of this phenomenon. It also facilitated the identification of common patterns to gain a deeper understanding of the complexity and historical roots of land grabbing in the country. The findings demonstrate, despite some case-specific variations, consistent historical patterns in the land grabbing processes: i) informal land occupation and eviction of peasants, ii) land transfers by the grabbers to acquire legal title deeds, iii) legal disputes arising when peasants assert their land rights, and iv) a final struggle for land restitution. The analysis also highlights the dual role of the Colombian state in this process, whereby it has created political and legal instruments to facilitate the appropriation of land and other natural resources by capital. Simultaneously, certain official institutions have acted to prevent these actions and defend the rights of rural communities.

Images from Exile

This roundtable discussion brings together the teams of two online participatory photography projects with exiled victims of the Colombian conflict, Tejiendo Vidas [Weaving Lives] in Spain and Fotodiásporas [Diaspora Photos] in the USA. Both projects were linked, in distinct ways, to the Colombian state’s efforts to provide recognition and reparations to victims of the country’s armed conflict as part of wider transitional justice and peacebuilding processes underway since the signing of the historic Colombian peace accord in 2016. The participants in these projects were some of the estimated one million people who have left Colombia as a result of the armed conflict between 1982 and 2020. They used photography as a means to process and make sense of their experiences, to heal through building connection and dialogue and to be seen. Bringing together the multi-disciplinary teams made up of photographic facilitators, psychotherapists and transitional justice researchers who ran these two projects, this roundtable discusses the responsive methods, logistics and dynamics of virtual and hybrid projects that fused participatory and therapeutic photography approaches. Reflecting on the outcomes, similarities and differences between the two projects, the conversation explores, in a context where economic and material reparations are slow to emerge, the role that participatory photography projects have to play in enabling symbolic reparations for Colombians whose lives have been permanently changed by conflict.

Intercultural teaching practices in the EFL classroom: The case of non‐elite communities

AbstractSignificant research has delved into the methodologies and practices teachers use to foster interculturality in the high school and college foreign language curriculum. Yet, little is known about the intercultural teaching practices teachers use in non‐elite communities where inequity, lack of access, and inclusion have prevailed, especially during COVID‐19. This case study describes how three teachers in three Colombian state schools, where economic divides are notorious, teach for interculturality in distance and virtual learning educational environments during the outbreak of COVID‐19. Findings indicate that teachers' approach to interculturality could be categorized into four intercultural teaching practices: 1) moving from the known to the unknown, 2) going beyond factual information, 3) challenging existing sources, and 4) contextualizing through authenticity. These practices offer guidance and instructional moves about how to teach for interculturality locally and worldwide.

Housing low-income populations as a Cold War geostrategic tool. The case of the Instituto de Credito Territorial’s Ciudad Kennedy in Colombia

ABSTRACT This article demonstrates how two different, but related processes converge in the Ciudad Kennedy neighbourhood, built by the Instituto de Credito Territorial (ICT) on the outskirts of Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, at the beginning of the 1960s. The ICT, the Colombian state agency responsible for building low-income housing, sought various means of addressing a housing crisis that had been exacerbated since the 1950s by significant rural migration into the country's urban centres. In this context, the ICT collaborated closely with the Inter-American Housing and Planning Center (CINVA). In tandem, the U.S. government approved budgeting for the programme Alliance for Progress. This programme for foreign aid and regional cooperation cemented the U.S. effort to consolidate its influence in Latin America as part of its Cold War geostrategy. Housing being one of the Alliance's primary means of achieving its goals, Ciudad Kennedy represented the measure by which the success of American foreign policy in Latin America could be assessed. By considering housing produced by the ICT in Colombia as a geopolitical tool in the 1960s, Ciudad Kennedy illustrates how the U.S. enhanced its relationships with Latin America through U.S. technicians and foreign aid programmes, such as the Alliance for Progress.