Ten Ways to Understand the Colombia Conflict

Ten Ways to Understand the Conflict Today

1. Paramilitary rearmament is associated with the fragmentation of
drug cartels and the intent to ensure continued dispossession of
lands in areas where the AUC (United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia)
had political and institutional control. In other regions this
rearmament seeks to repeat the model which associates violence with
ownership, use, and enjoyment of the land.

2. The guerrillas, especially the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia), suffered the greatest military defeats with the death of
two members of its highest level leadership as well as losses
suffered in mid-ranks and in its primary structures. In addition to
the military operation which led to the release of some hostages, the
death of historic leader Pedro Antonio Marín, alias
“Tirofijo” (Sureshot), was an important factor. Nonetheless, the FARC
have a presence and continue operations in various regions of the
country, and have turned their territories into mine fields. They
also resort to extortion, threaten the population, and practice forms
of both individual and large-scale recruitment, which include boys
and girls and adolescents, to make up for losses by death and desertion.

3. The offensive by the Public Forces (State military), under
pressure to produce results, is not exempt from grave human rights
violations and infractions of International Humanitarian Law. The
“false positives”, which include extrajudicial killings and arbitrary
detentions, generate a climate of distrust and fear in the civian
population and contribute to conditions of forced displacement.

4. Aerial fumigations and forced manual eradication, in addition to
provoking mass displacement, have resulted in the broad dissemination
of illicit crops in different regions of the country, which is also
related to the fragmentation of the drug cartels.

5. A critical situation continues in some regions, with armed
confrontation between guerrillas from the FARC and ELN (National
Liberation Army) and a high number of civilian victims, especially in
the departments of Arauca, Nariño, Cauca, and Chocó. In Arauca this
confrontation, together with other manifestations of violence, has
provoked a 153% increase in the number of displaced persons from the
first half of 2007 (5,381 persons) to the same period in 2008 (13,640
persons).

6. Atypical alliances between paramilitaries, narcotraffikers, and
guerrillas respond to new dynamics of the conflict.

7. All the actors of the conflict are making great efforts to recruit
new combatants to prolong the war. The FARC and ELN intend to
increase the ranks of their forces (reduced by the government
offensive), resorting to recruitment of boys, girls, and adolescents.

8. The paramilitaries continue to recruit demobilized former AUC
members who have been reinserted into civil society, but also recruit
youth in urban ceters. These practices infringe on International
Humanitarian Law and ensure the continuation of the conflict.

9. Intra-urban displacement grows at an alarming rate. Traditional
and new forms of violence in the major cities lead to this modality
of forced displacement. From January to May of 2008, according to
Medellín’s ombudsman’s office (Personería), at least 567 people were
displaced within the city. A similar situation is present in cities
such as Bogotá, Cali, Buenaventura, and Santa Marta.

10. Hunger as a weapon or consequence of war is creating a form of
forced displacement, combining fear and poverty. The movement of
indigenous Embera people from the department of Risaralda toward the
nation’s capital city set off alarms about the situation of
communities in areas of great armed conlict, which face blockages;
limited capacity for production, storage, and trade of foodstuffs;
and restricted access to hunting and fishing.

http://www.cambio.com.co/paiscambio/817/ARTICULO-WEB-NOTA_INTERIOR_CAMBI...