Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias De Colombia Research Articles

Ee-imagining Colombia’s new security landscape in the wake of the FARC Peace Accord

ABSTRACTAfter two centuries of almost non-stop warfare since Independence in 1819, Colombia now finds itself at a crossroads. One path entails the construction of a culture of peace in the aftermath of the 2017 disarmament of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC). Another trajectory entails a profound transformation of war. Colombia is increasingly leaning toward reconfigured warfare. The most prominent feature of this redefined security panorama is the re-conception of boundaries, both physical and ideational. One is reminded of the chilling observation of Gabriel García Márquez that a country ‘condemned to one hundred years of solitude did not have a second opportunity on earth.’

Conflict, Environment and Transition: Colombia, Ecology and Tourism after Demobilisation

In 2016, Colombia’s left-wing guerrilla FARC-EP (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia—Ejército del Pueblo) began demobilisation. While demobilisation and the ensuing peace accords brought renewed hope that the country could imagine different political and social relations—and new ecological and economic conditions—multinational corporations filled the ‘void’ left by FARC-EP forces. Corporate interests in Colombia’s natural resources predated the demobilisation. However, extractive processes were restricted by the dynamics of the armed conflict. In 2016, immediately following the demobilisation, deforestation in Colombia jumped 44 per cent. In the transitional demobilisation period, huge swaths of the country were opened for economic development. Thus, while the environment is often a victim in armed conflict, in Colombia, conflict contributed to the preservation of some areas. Among the forms of development that have emerged in Colombia, ‘ecotourism’ has risen quickly to the fore. While ecotourism may offer some promise, it should be viewed with caution.

Colombia and the transformation of warfare: the end of ideology?

ABSTRACTAfter nearly two centuries at war with itself, Colombia witnessed an opportunity for peace in 2016 when the government reached a celebrated agreement with the leftist rebels of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC). Three years down the road, the peace agreement has frayed, and the aura of hope that initially surrounded it has depleted. Colombia now faces a transformation of warfare marked by what appears to be an ‘end of ideology’. That is, rather than pursuing ideational goals for the achievement of a better society, the country’s diverse array of armed groups appears to be fighting primarily for the maximisation of wealth and territory. We shall begin with a conceptual discussion, and then turn to the historical context of Colombian security. This will be followed by an analysis of the elements that led to the demise of the FARC, and to the proliferation of an assortment of illegal armed groups that dot the landscape of Colombia’s transformation of war.

Rights in the Time of Populism: Land and Institutional Change Amid the Reemergence of Right-Wing Authoritarianism in Colombia

In Colombia, right-wing leadership returned to power after winning the presidential elections in 2018 in a campaign in which they opposed the previous government, primarily because of the negotiations and peacemaking with the FARC-EP (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia—Ejército del Pueblo ‘Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia—People’s Army’), Colombia’s largest guerrilla organization. Globally, there is a vibrant academic debate about how to characterize the current rise of right-wing populism or authoritarianism, but more profound insights from each country’s situation and its political economy implications are needed. The victory in Colombia was due to numerous factors, including the support from some rural elites who have historically obstructed the enforcement of redistributive land policies. However, the populist aspirations of the right-wing government have been persistently frustrated not only by social unrest and political mobilization but also because of the enforcement of institutions previously incorporated into the country’s political scenario. Specifically, in terms of agrarian political economy, two sets of human rights-oriented institutional changes are relevant regarding this matter: (a) the Land Restitution Law enacted in 2011 and (b) the Comprehensive Rural Reform contained in the Agrarian Chapter of the Peace Agreement between the national government and the FARC-EP in 2016. The purpose of this paper is to ground the ongoing theoretical and political debate about the rise of different forms of populism and right-wing authoritarianism in the current Colombian political context, and its implications on the countryside. The analytical contribution of this paper is twofold: On the one hand, I propose an alternative for explaining the nature of the current political regime in Colombia as right-wing authoritarianism; on the other hand, I analyze some features of such regimes in terms of its disputes with the enforcement of human rights-oriented institutions, that are in force as the result of political processes triggered by peasants’ mobilization.

La Fuerza Alternativa Revolucionaria del Común en las elecciones legislativas de 2018 (Catatumbo-Colombia)

Este artículo busca responder a la pregunta de si es posible establecer en el Catatumbo una relación de causa y efecto generalizable entre la presencia previa de las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) y un nivel bajo o alto de votos por el Partido Fuerza Alternativa Revolucionaria del Común (Farc) en las elecciones para el Congreso de 2018. Este artículo aplica una metodología cuantitativa con soporte documental y una triangulación con fuentes secundarias. Los hallazgos de la investigación muestran que, aunque el escenario conformado por San Calixto, Hacarí, Teorama y El Tarra constituye un enclave político para el nuevo partido, la disputa por el control de este territorio entre grupos armados se perfila como una amenaza para el proceso de reintegración social y política de los integrantes de la guerrilla desmovilizada.

Attacks on energy infrastructure targeting democratic institutions

To what extent can energy infrastructure become a tool for insurgents? Non-state, insurgent actors have increased attacks on critical energy infrastructure over time (Giroux et al., 2013). As critical energy infrastructure becomes more complex and interconnected, attacks on this infrastructure can have far reaching consequences not only for the economy but also for social institutions. Leveraging exogenously scheduled elections in Colombia and microlevel energy infrastructure attack data, we use multivariate linear regression to show that insurgent groups, Las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) and Ejército de Liberación (ELN), time attacks on critical energy infrastructure in the months before an election. We find that the likelihood of an attack on electricity transmission lines and substations increased by 34% in the lead up to election months and that the number of attacks increased by 37% during election months. We further find these attacks are correlated with reduced voter turnout, indicating that infrastructure attacks may undermine participation in democratic institutions. These findings are particularly interesting as democratic societies—burgeoning and established—try to identify the unintended vulnerabilities to society that accompany the benefits of increased interconnectedness.

Conflicto armado, palma de aceite y bosque en Colombia: una exploración de relaciones espaciales

Las FARC-EP, uno de los más contundentes grupos armados al margen de la ley, ejercieron presencia histórica en aproximadamente el 45% del área continental de Colombia, librando un conflicto armado por más de 50 años. Desde la perspectiva del “´Posacuerdo de Paz” y la territorialidad, el presente ejercicio tiene como propósito principal explorar y analizar las posibles relaciones espaciales existentes entre tres fuentes de información geográfica nacional: Presencia histórica de las FARC-EP en los municipios de Colombia; Cobertura de monocultivo de palma de aceite y Cobertura de “bosque no bosque”; e indagar cómo dichas interacciones podrían afectar el futuro ambiental de Colombia, así como la posible implicación en la conservación y uso adecuado de los recursos naturales. La observación se efectúa nivel nacional y en tres regiones específicas de estudio: Orinoquía, Norte y Nariño. La observación se soporta en el empleo de herramientas de Sistemas de Información Geográfica.

Demobilizace kolumbijských guerill: Případ FARC-EP a ELN

Partisan and paramilitary groups operating on Colombian soil have been representing a serious regional security threat for the last fifty years. The most successful attempt to conclude a peace treaty between the government and the insurgents is represented by the peace process that took place between 2012-2016. This process resulted in the agreement between the colombian government and the guerilla group Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - Ejército del Pueblo. This paper deals with the dynamics of the of the peace processes between the government and guerilla groups and analyzes the factors contributing to the escalation and deescalation of the conflict and factors that enabled or on the contrary disabled a successful demobilization of the insurgents. The analysis of the demobilization uncovered a number of factors indicating a contradictory acting of both sides of the conflict. While the adversaries were negotiating the peace agreement, in the same time they were violating the previous agreements. Such behaviour was caused mainly due to the absence of a strong sponsor.

Suffering and political agency: an inquiry into the condition of victimhood in Bojayá, Colombia

Victims have acquired an unprecedented social and political legitimacy in the contemporary world. In light of this phenomenon and the debates it has generated in the social and human sciences, in this article we analyze how victimhood is constructed in Bojaya, a municipality on the Colombian Pacific coast, where more than eighty people were massacred in 2002 during a combat between the FARC-EP (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejercito del Pueblo) and the AUC (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia). Supported by interviews and field data, we argue that the social trauma of the massacre and suffering are the cause of political agency of the victims and the means for becoming political subjects. Based on conceptual categories coming from Lacanian psychoanalysis, we conclude that the nomination of victim in Bojaya is fundamental for its inhabitants –previously invisible– so that they can be recognized by the Other of the nation and the international scene.

Feminization of Terror: Psychological Analysis of the Role of Women in Terrorist Structures

Feminization of terror is a significant issue in the light of its etiology, scale, and effects. Moreover, it is a social problem that arose in psychology, sociology, cultural anthropology, and politics. This article aims to analyze only a part of this complicated matter. The article has put an emphasis on the motives that drive women to take up such a risky and dangerous practice, as well as on the specifics of their activities in four organizations: the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, Chechen Kavkazskiy Emirat, and groups associated with Islam.

Escenarios para el sometimiento de excluidos de Justicia y Paz a la Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz: disquisición sobre sus ámbitos de aplicación

El primer intento de justicia transicional en Colombia se materializó con la Ley de Justicia y Paz (Ley 975 de 2005), en virtud del Acuerdo de Ralito entre las Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia y el gobierno colombiano. Posteriormente, con la expedición de la Ley 1592 de 2012, se generó la posibilidad de que los miembros que no cumplieran las condiciones establecidas en la Ley de Justicia y Paz o que no cumplieran con los compromisos adquiridos al someterse a dicha legislación, pudieran ser excluidos de ella y continuar siendo investigados y juzgados en la jurisdicción ordinaria. Como resultado del Acuerdo de Paz entre las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia y el gobierno colombiano, nació la Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz, mediante la cual se juzgarán los delitos cometidos durante el conflicto armado. El presente artículo pretende evaluar la posibilidad que tienen los excombatientes de grupos paramilitares que, habiéndose postulado a la Ley de Justicia y Paz y que hayan sido excluidos por no cumplir con algunos de los requisitos o por no haber cumplido con sus compromisos, puedan someterse a la Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz. Lo anterior se realiza a partir de la construcción de escenarios sobre casos icónicos de ex paramilitares excluidos de la Ley de Justicia y Paz.

Child soldiers as peace-builders in Colombian peace talks between the government and the FARC–EP

ABSTRACTChildren, especially girls, are considered victims in armed conflicts. Children who participate in conflicts, as combatants, sexual servants, spies, informants and messengers, may be considered perpetrators of atrocities. These two classifications of children in armed conflicts do not consider their roles as agents who may also participate in peace-building efforts. This paper analyses how children involved in armed conflicts are classified and represented in the current peace agreement between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del Pueblo). We aim to understand if children are recognised in this peace process as participants and, in some capacity, as peace-builders. Dialoguing with the literature on critical security studies and childhood studies, we conduct a critical discourse analysis of the peace agreement documents. The study of the Colombian case enables an empirical analysis in which child soldiers are categorised as victims with the possibility of participating in peace-building and, at the same time, as potential challengers to the peace process.

La retórica del miedo como estrategia política. El plebiscito por la paz en Colombia

El presente artículo analiza los discursos de los líderes políticos más representativos de la campaña del plebiscito por la paz en Colombia, el líder del Sí, presidente Juan Manuel Santos, y el representante más visible de la campaña por el No, el líder del partido político Centro Democrático, expresidente y senador Álvaro Uribe Vélez, quien encabezó durante más de cinco años una oposición frontal al gobierno y a las negociones de paz. En estos discursos se busca identifi car el uso de las emociones —de los componentes no racionales de la política—, específicamente del miedo como elemento principal para influir en la decisión de los electores a favor del voto aprobatorio o desaprobatorio de los acuerdos de paz firmados en La Habana (Cuba), entre representantes del gobierno de Colombia y de las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC). Para lograr este propósito, se realizó el estudio de tres intervenciones del presidente Juan Manuel Santos y dos del expresidente Álvaro Uribe Vélez anteriores al domingo 2 de octubre de 2017, día de la votación, y una intervención del gerente del Comité Promotor Nacional por el No —y reconocido uribista—, Juan Carlos Vélez Uribe, posterior a la jornada electoral en cuestión. Para presentar esta confrontación discursiva, el artículo describe el contexto institucional y las reglas de juego que demarcaron la acción política de los principales actores de esta campaña sui géneris.

Pázala, el juego para saber construir paz

Colombia is currently immersed in a relevant moment in its history, where the possibility of overcoming an armed conflict with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - FARC is evident, and which has built a culture around violence. As for this process, SENA has a main role since it is the institution called to perform Integral Professional Formation to the prior combatant and thus contribute to the reincorporation to the social society in a regular way. In order to succeed, it is necessary that the educative community from SENA, counts on the needed skills around the topic of Peace Culture and Construction. The current article is framed by the line of academy, society and institutions’ challenges and has as main objective: To promote a culture of peace among the educative SENA community and the society in general within the recognition of an individual as a person of rights, through the strengthening of citizenship skills facing the postfight agreement scenario. It is for this reason that a methodology called “PAZALA”, a dynamic game which helps construct peace, will be presented, where it is intended to generate several spaces of meeting and re-encountering in a soccer game, so that through conciliatory practices (coexistence principles) the minds and the way of being can be transformed in the frame of peace consolidation. In this document, you will be able to find all the conceptual and methodological support which looks for the strengthening of peace, where everybody is the main character.

DE LA ESPERANZA A NUEVAS INCERTIDUMBRES. SOBRE LA DISTRIBUCIÓN DE LA VOTACIÓN EN EL PLEBISCITO COLOMBIANO (2016)

El presente artículo se propone cuestionar el lugar común en la explicación sobre el comportamiento electoral en el plebiscito en que se sometió a aprobación los acuerdos entre el gobierno colombiano y las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP). En virtud de ello, ofrece una explicación alternativa basada en los principales lineamientos de la perspectiva del elector mediano y las preferencias de pico único. A partir de allí el texto sugiere que es plausible conjeturar que las tendencias del voto por el “Sí”, el “No” y la abstención, se pueden explicar mejor a partir de la utilidad percibida sobre el tenor del acuerdo que debería firmarse entre el Gobierno nacional de Colombia y las FARC-EP. De la misma manera, se demuestra el papel activo que jugaron los partidos políticos en este proceso, comportándose racionalmente y, tal como señala Anthony Downs, evidenciando que, aún en procesos electorales no recurrentes tales como los plebiscitos, estas colectividades formulan sus propuestas y sus políticas como un medio para ganar votos.

Transitional Justice and the Colombian Peace Processs

textabstractThis introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book begins with a brief history of the conflict and of previous peace processes, making the case that the current peace process is best understood in relation to the wider historical process of state consolidation and successive peace attempts in Colombia. The book discusses in detail the agreements between the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia—Ejercito del Pueblo (FARC—EP) and the Colombian Government and its transitional justice component. The book focuses on identifying the challenges facing the implementation of the objectives of the transitional justice component of the peace agreement between the FARC—EP and the Colombian Government. It examines the challenges encountered in relation to policies regarding land and its restitution in Colombia. The Colombian Government has implemented and experimented with a diversity of measures in pursuit of justice and transitional justice in Colombia.

EL PROCESO DE PAZ EN COLOMBIA Y LAS NUEVAS ALTERNATIVAS PENALES

El presente trabajo tiene como propósito presentar un estudio breve sobre los tipos de penas por conductas ilegales que presenta el acuerdo de paz entre el gobierno colombiano y la guerrilla de las FARC-EP (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - Ejército del Pueblo), para con ello dar evidencia de la posibilidad existente de desarrollar todo un modelo de sanción penal diferente a la institución de la cárcel tradicional que en la actualidad se presenta como una institución social en crisis. Para el desarrollo de dicho trabajo se abordará el texto en cinco momentos, siendo el primero una breve contextualización sobre la situación de conflicto armado y político en Colombia, pasando luego al panorama y situación de las cárceles, la argumentación teórica de la cárcel como una institución en crisis, la presentación somera del acuerdo de paz entre el gobierno colombiano y las FARC-EP (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - Ejército del Pueblo) en materia de justicia transicional, jurisdicción especial para la paz y las penas establecidas en el mismo para aquellas personas que participaron en el conflicto armado colombiano y finalmente las conclusiones del estudio.

Made in Havana: How Colombia and the FARC Decided to End the War

On November 24, 2016, the government of Colombia and the biggest guerrilla group in the country, the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia–Ejercito del Pueblo (FARC-EP), signed a final peace agreement. This accord put an end to the longest armed conflict in the Western Hemisphere and to long and convoluted peace talks. What elements of the process contributed to its success? While it may be too early to properly speak of “lessons learned,” IPI’s latest paper highlights the key elements that seemed to have worked and those that made progress difficult. Over the course of the process, several factors emerged as central, both to its successful resolution and to the problems likely to arise during implementation: - A limited agenda: Previous talks with the FARC-EP had been burdened by an extremely long agenda that included many issues the public believed should not be settled in a negotiation with an insurgent group. Reflecting this experience, the agreed final agenda addressed just six issues. - A peace process removed from Colombia: Cuba’s hosting of the negotiations buffered the talks from the daily occurrences of war and politics in Colombia and provided a controlled environment. While this proved to be essential for the parties to come to an agreement, it left many Colombians feeling removed from the process and limited their sense of ownership. - A strategic use of the international community: The dialogue was guided by a central premise: this would be a process “for Colombians, by Colombians.” This meant that the government tightly controlled the process and excluded the possibility of an external mediator. Nonetheless, the Colombian government reached out to and mobilized the international community. Although the involvement of these actors was essential to the successful outcome of the talks, it did not translate into wider legitimacy inside Colombia.

FARC, 1982–2002: criminal foundation for insurgent defeat

Recent controversy during the conclusion of peace talks has renewed discussion as to the nature of the effort by Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, or FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), to seize state power. FARC presents itself as an insurgency produced by societal imperfections and purports to speak for the marginalized and alienated of Colombia. Critics contend that FARC is a ruthless narcoterrorist organization that has targeted the people. In fact, FARC comes closer to the latter than the former, because its critical decision to privilege criminality for generation of means destroyed execution of a viable people’s war strategy. Ultimately, means devoured ways in such manner as to make ends unachievable. Criminality, though it made FARC perhaps the richest insurgent group in the world during its heyday, laid the foundation for its defeat by ceding legitimacy, and thus mass mobilization, to the democratic state.

Affective capitalism, humanitarianism and extractivism in Colombia: old and new borders for future times

ABSTRACT Contemporary Colombian conjuncture encompasses two dynamics. These incorporate social, economic, political and cultural aspects, whose related rationalities are yet to be mapped out and understood in their complex and multi-layered dimensions and registers. On the one hand, as I will explain throughout the text, we have been witness to on-going peace talks between the government and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia guerrilla group, a whole set of practices of forgiveness, inaugurations of memory museums, the passing of the victims and land restitution law, as well as the recognition of victims and the effervescence of their movements and organizations. These factors have spiralled victims’ demonstrations and fuelled marches all over the country. On the other hand, there are increased rates of foreign investment in those regions that, until as little as a decade ago, were subject to appalling rates of internal displacement, massacres and disappearances, and which now constitute new borders where global capitalism has been able to reconfigure and increase its rates of capital accumulation. In this article, I analyse the processes referred to above and their complex relationships from the vantage point of a cultural studies interrogation of the affective and the popular, focusing on two Colombian regions: Montes de María and Mapiripán. My goal is to understand how different groups and actors are experiencing these processes in their everyday lives. Here, I include victims and their organizations but also government officials and entrepreneurs related to agro-industry initiatives – mentioned below – today refashioned within the new mantra of corporate responsibility. I want to understand the issue of where people are located and what they are doing, facing, consuming, or resisting in terms of these new challenges. Finally, I wish to offer an analytical study that can capture the everyday textures of these processes in a complex and concrete fashion.