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Paramilitary Politics And Corruption Talk In Colombia, Winifred L. Tate

Winifred L. Tate

Paramilitary Forces In Colombia, Winifred Tate

Winifred L. Tate

How can we understand the transformation of Colombian paramilitary groups during the past two decades? Intimately connected to drug trafficking, paramilitary groups have infiltrated political institutions and enjoyed significant political support even as they have used extreme brutality. Since the early 1990s, paramilitaries have grown exponentially in strength, creating a national coordinating body and carrying out military offensives. These developments brought territorial expansion throughout Colombia and a peak in political violence, typified by massacres from 1997 to 2003. After negotiations with government officials, more than thirty-two thousand troops passed through demobilization programs verified by the Organization of American States; much …

From Greed To Grievance: The Shifting Political Profile Of The Colombian Paramilitaries, Winifred Tate

Winifred L. Tate

On June 28, 2004, indicted drug trafficker and paramilitary leader Salvatore Mancuso, wearing a fashionable Italian suit and tie, addressed the Colombian Congress from the podium. "The judgment of history will recognize the goodness and nobility of our cause," he told the assembled legislators and press. The day before, Mancuso, along with two other paramilitary leaders, had traveled in an official air force plane from the small northern Colombia hamlet where paramilitary leaders had assembled to begin talks with the Colombian government. After almost a decade of fighting outside the law, Mancuso was now addressing the heart of the state, …

Recent Changes In The Armed Conflict In Colombia, Fernando Estrada

Fernando Estrada

Analyst in the strategy and operations of guerrillas and paramilitaries, have suggested that the Colombian conflict analysis should show the differences between clusters paramilitary. Not only because after the 80s, drug trafficking has played a decisive role, but because the geography of territories and control combinations have not been studied sufficiently. Geography of armed conflict should also provide tools to understand the impact of war on natural resources, for example. We sustain that while the drug economy has filtered the structure of semi-groups, promoting market competition and private security protection, drug trafficking does not explain absolutely all sources of violence …

Litigation Or Legislation: Protecting The Rights Of Internally Displaced Persons In Colombia, Jennifer Easterday

Jennifer Easterday

One of the most pressing and often overlooked consequences of over 40 years of fighting in Colombia is internal displacement. Approximately 3.8 million people have been displaced in Colombia since 1985, nearly 10% of its population. This is the second worst IDP crisis in the world, second only to Sudan. IDPs in Colombia suffer egregious violations of their basic human rights everyday.

In this Article, I analyze Colombian policy and legislation concerning IDPs, and how the continuing deprivation of rights resulting from displacement has been litigated in the Colombian court system. By considering the parameters of each attempt to protect …