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Chapter Reference: Revolution; Reaction; Neoliberalism
Today, because of decades of internal turmoil, Colombia accounts for more immigrants to the United States than does any other South American country. The current crisis in Colombia has antecedents that go back at least to the 1950s. In fact, a paper on the topic should begin its overview with the Bogotazo riot of 1948. It should include consideration of the four principal groups currently under arms: the guerrillas, the drug mafias, the paramilitaries, and of course, the national army. (A fifth armed group, peasant militias to cooperate with the army, is now being formed by the government.) The course of intermittent negotiations between the government, the guerrillas, and more recently, the paramilitaries, also deserves scrutiny. Equally deserving of scrutiny is the U.S. military aid project known as Plan Colombia that has made Colombia among the largest recipients of US aid in the world. In essence, Plan Colombia has dovetailed with Colombian president Alvaro Uribe's focus on military victory over the guerrillas, a work still in progress, and one not without its bitter cost.
Questions for Analysis and Further Reflection:
- How did Colombia's guerrilla armies form, and how have they changed during half a century of fighting?
- The principal market for the Colombian drug trade has always been in the United States, where consumers have always been willing to pay top dollar for a quality product. Explore the evolution of the drug trade, with attention to its sources and market outside of Colombia.
- U.S. intervention in Colombia goes back to 1903, with the forced separation of Panama to make way for the U.S. construction of the canal. Intervention today is of a different kind under Plan Colombia. What are the motivations behind this plan, and what have been its social, economic, and political consequences felt by Colombians thus far?
Bibliography: (Titles with ** are good starting places.)
** Movie suggestion: Maria Full of Grace, directed by Joshua Marston.
** Braun, Herbert. Our Guerrillas, Our Sidewalks: A Journey into the Violence of Colombia,
2nd ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2003.
Braun's engaging account of a family member kidnapped in Colombia, from the moment of disappearance, through terror and negotiations, to release, serves as an illuminating guide to the Colombian crisis.
Dudley, Steven S. Walking Ghosts: Murder and Guerrilla Politics in Colombia. London:
Routledge, 2004.
Dudley's overview of the crisis chronicles political aspects since the 1980s.
Duzán, María Jimena. Death Beat: A Colombian Journalist's Life Inside the Cocaine Wars.
** García Márquez, Gabriel. News of a Kidnapping. Translated by Edith Grossman. New York: Knopf, 1997.
As the title suggests, this fast-paced narrative by one of Latin America's most celebrated writers relates stories of victims of kidnapping, a strategy used by multiple groups.
** Kirk, Robin. More Terrible Than Death: Massacres, Drugs, and America's War in
Colombia. New York: Public Affairs, 2003.
Vivid snapshots of life on the edge in contemporary Colombia appear in one human rights worker's struggle to make a difference.
Molano, Alfredo. Loyal Soldiers in the Cocaine Kingdom: Tales of Drugs, Mules, and
Gunmen. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004.
This recent narrative explores one group currently under arms-drug mafias.
** Safford, Frank and Marco Palacios. Colombia: Fragmented Land, Divided Society. New
York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
This recent addition to the Oxford series of Latin American histories will help students get a hold on the roots of the crisis.
Other Resources:
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