Colombia

Colombia was one of the three countries, along with Ecuador and Venezuela that arose from the disintegration of the Great Colombia in 1830.

It is a country located in the north-western zone of South America, constitutionally organized as a decentralized unitary republic. Its capital is Bogotá. Its surface is 2.070.408 km², of which 1.141.748 km² correspond to its continental territory and the rest 928,660 km² to its marine extension, of which it maintains bordering disagreements with Venezuela and Nicaragua. Limiting to the east with Venezuela and Brazil, to the south with Perú and Ecuador and to the northwest with Panama; as far as marine limits, it is contiguous with Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic in the Caribbean Sea, and with Panama, Costa Rica and Ecuador in the Pacific Ocean. In this way, Colombia is the only nation of South America that has coasts in the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, in which it owns diverse islands such as the archipelago of San Andrés and Providencia.

It is the fourth nation in territorial extension in South America and, with around 45 million inhabitants, (73% urban population, 27% rural), is the third in population in Latin America, after Brazil and Mexico.

Colombia is recognized at world-wide level by the production of coffee, flowers, emeralds, coal and petroleum. Also, is remarkable its cultural diversity and rich biodiversity.

Violence

In Colombia, the development has been jeopardized by scourges of global character like the world-wide problem of drugs and terrorism, that they feed and they contribute to the degradation of an internal conflict that, by its characteristics, cannot be assimilated to existing situations in other latitudes.

Colombia suffers an armed conflict which from day to day degrades more. Throughout its history it has lived in the middle of confrontations, which is an expression of the difficulty that the society has in order to build a democratic and fair State, in which there is enough room for all the social and political sectors and where there is a more equitable distribution of wealth.

This armed confrontation has violated, mainly, the principles of the human dignity and those of protection of the noncombatant people. The disarmed society is the main victim of the Colombian conflict and the present motor of this problem is driven by the production and trafficking of stupefacient or narcotics.

The generalized violence, not only the one of the conflict, it is part of the Colombian daily life. In Colombia they appear near 2,500 combat actions (on the part of different factions) per year, which represents the death of more than 3,000 combatants. This number is three times superior to the one thousand killed  that comparative international studies establish as minimum number in order to consider that a country lives in civil war (source: Fundación Seguridad y Democracia /Security and Democracy Foundation). In this way, in 2001 it appeared 26,311 homicides (World Health Organization –WHO, and the Legal Medicine Report), rate that remains stable year after year.

The decades of conflict have left tens of thousands of dead civilians and thousands more they have been victims of forced disappearance and displacement on the part of the different implied groups.

In recent years, scandals such as the alliance between politicians and paramilitary and narcotic- traffickers groups, phenomenon known as Parapolitics, has focused the attention of the public opinion at national level, and the internal conflict has threatened with extending to neighboring countries as it happened during the diplomatic crisis of Colombia with Ecuador and Venezuela of 2008. In the meantime, popular manifestations against the crimes of the different implied forces in conflict have been performed, while Colombia remains as the country with greater number of kidnappings and continues leading the cocaine production, which has entailed to be classified as one of the most violent countries of the world. In contrast, Colombia has been relatively one of the countries of greater institutional stability in South America.

Armed conflict

The guerilla detachments that at the present operate in the country are the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia [FARC, by its acronym in Spanish], the Camilista Union-National Liberation Army [UC-ELN, by its acronym in Spanish] and Liberation Popular Army   [EPL, by its acronym in Spanish], that had their origin in the decade of the Sixties.

Their antecedent is the liberal guerillas arisen as reaction to the political persecution initiated by the Conservative Political Party’s government (1946-1953), that included the murder of the liberal candidate Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, fact that gave origin to a popular revolt  that it is known as “The Bogotazo” and to a liberal-conservative long period of violence that left a tragic balance of near 300 thousand dead people.

After a period of military dictatorship (1953-1957), the Liberal and Conservative Political Parties agreed to the so called National Front, that initiated a new period in political agreement between the traditional political parties, which allowed them to alternate the exercise of the Government during 16 years. Other political forces then were excluded from the political fight or dispute.

The FARC had their origin in 1964, as form of self-defense against the persecution released against the forms of farmer or peasants organization led at that time by the Communist Party. Then, in the decade of the Seventies they built a global political strategy facing the Colombian State.

The UC-ELN arose in 1965 in the department of Santander, as a radicalization process of some sectors of the Liberal Revolutionary Movement – (Movimiento Revolucionario Liberal- MRL, by its acronym in Spanish)- that Alfonso Lopez Michelsen led at the end of the decade of the fifties, considering the taking of power by the arms. It is calculated that it has about 5 thousand combatants, organized in 30 fronts. A fraction of the UC-ELN, denominated Current of Socialist Renovation, signed in 1994 an agreement of demobilization with the government of César Gaviria.

The EPL had its origin in 1968, located in the western region of the Atlantic Coast, expanding its action soon towards other regions, having particular incidence in the banana plantation zone of Urabá, where the boom of the exports of the fruit created a strong social conflict. A considerable fraction of the EPL signed a peace accord with the government of César Gaviria on March  1991, and it became the Hope, Peace and Freedom movement (movimiento Esperanza, Paz y Libertad).

Other guerilla detachments, arisen in the decades of the seventies and the eighties, signed peace accords with the governments of Barco and Gaviria, to become movements or political parties. These are April 19th Movement (Movimiento 19 de Abril – M19, by its acronym in Spanish), the Workers’ Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores – PRT, by its acronym in Spanish), and the Quintín Lame Movement (Movimiento Quintín Lame).

The FARC, the UC-ELN and the EPL, although with differences of ideological and political trajectories , conform the Simón Bolívar Guerilla Coordinator (Coordinadora Guerillera Simón Bolívar).

In view of the emergence of the guerillas and its pretension to gain influence on the farmer o peasant population and the urban popular movements, the Colombian State developed since the Sixties, a counter-insurgent strategy under the orientation of the so called “national security doctrine”, that was applied with greater rigor starting from the government of president Turbay.

At the end of year 2006 more than 31,000 former paramilitary individuals they were demobilized, and the paramilitary group the United Self-defense of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia –AUC, by its acronym in Spanish,) as a formal organization, has stopped working. As a result of the demobilization of the paramilitary individuals, new criminal groups have arisen, among whose members they appear a lot of former paramilitary individuals.

The peace processes and conversations between the successive governments and the guerilla detachments have given rise to some agreements of demobilization, already enunciated, but they have not obtained the signing of a global peace accord with the veteran guerilla organizations and with greater military capacity.

The situation of the Colombian conflict has taken in the last two years a high international profile, with the involvement of France and Venezuela in the humanitarian negotiation actions.

During the 2008, in the presidency of Alvaro Uribe, who has raised a strong military offensive to the guerilla detachments, some of the most excellent politicians kidnapped have been released, among others people. Also they have been assassinated, detained or demobilized outstanding leaders of the FARC.

Recently, a new military agreement was signed between Colombia and the United States of America, that will allow the Americans to use 7 Colombian bases, with the corresponding rejection of the neighboring countries, for considering it a hostile action that attempts against the sovereignty of the states and looking forward to strengthen the American empire in Latin America. This agreement, says, will serve as support to the present Colombia Plan in its fight against drug trafficking and terrorism. In the meeting of September 2009, the UNASUR has not rejected this agreement explicitly, and yes it has reiterated his support to the government of Colombia in its fight against drug trafficking and terrorism.

On the other hand, at the present time, the political climate has been burned by the scandal of the paramilitary entailments with the congress, and particularly the accusations against several civil officials of the government’s political party.

The Colombian Government has intensified its efforts to reaffirm the control of the government in all the country, and now it has presence in each of its administrative departments.  Nevertheless, the neighboring countries, Ecuador and Venezuela, are very worried since the Colombian violence extends beyond its borders and affects the whole region. Because of this armed conflict, the diplomatic relations between these countries are very tense. Colombia accuses Venezuela to give armament to the FARC, and to Ecuador, of financing itself thanks to this guerilla detachment. On the other hand, Ecuador accuses Colombia of invasion of its sovereign space, and Venezuela to be selling the country to the Americans.

Colombia plan

It is an international project constituted between the governments of Colombia and the United States. Its primary objective is to diminish the stupefacient, narcotics or drug trafficking and to solve the present armed conflict that is lived in this South American nation. It was conceived in 1999 during the administrations of Colombian president Andrés Pastrana Arango, and the American president Bill Clinton, with the specific objectives of generating a social and economic revitalization, to finish the armed conflict and to create an anti-narcotic strategy.

The most controversial element of this plan has been the strategy of air spraying fumigations to eradicate the cultivation of cocaine. This activity has been the target of critics because, besides producing damages to the licit cultivation, it affects the biodiversity and it has adverse consequences to health on those people exposed to herbicides. According to scientific researches in France, the use of the glyphosate formulated in aerial sprinkling brings about the first stages of the cancer progression in the cells.

The critics of this initiative also allege that part of the aid of the Plan has also been delivered to the elements of the security forces that are compromised with paramilitary groups in abuses against sectors of the population and organizations of left wing.

Colombia-Ecuador conflict

Ecuador and Colombia broke relations on March 3rd, 2008 two days after the Colombian military men bombed the FARC bases. There, Raúl Reyes, the second commander of the guerilla passed away, and 25 people more, among those were Mexican students.

The Governments of both countries have initiated a process of “direct dialogue” to obtain the normalization of their diplomatic relations. In this way, the Government of Colombia aims that the total normalization of the relations with Ecuador occurs in a short term.

Colombia and Ecuador have place the first stone to recover relations, celebrating in their common border a series of work tables, with the purpose of solving their differences, after approximately 19 months of the rupture of the same.

Quito decided to break the diplomatic channel when it considered that the sovereignty of its country had been violated. In those dates, to the Ecuadorian denunciations of border incidents, they added the malaise caused by the air spraying fumigation of the cultivation of cocaine leaf with glyphosate herbicide in the bordering zone and by the passage of refugees towards that country, as well as the reclamations of Colombia by the presence of the FARC rebels in the region.

By this process, it was given the instruction for the detention or arrest of the Colombian former Minister Santos, reason why his extradition was requested. The President of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe, ratified the support to the former- civil official and affirmed that he will not allow the Ecuadorian Justice to judge him, when he did not commit any crime.

In addition, Colombia informed that it will give to the Government of Quito, evidence of the existence of the FARC guerilla camps in Ecuadorian territory, so that the authorities take forceful actions against the rebel group.

Both chancellors of Colombia and Ecuador already met with the Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza, to ask to him that he accompanies the process. They did the same with the former- president of the United States, Jimmy Carter.

Both governments will form the work commissions to seek for the facilitation of the Carter Centre and the OAS to approach the public requirements of both countries.

Besides the chargé d’affaires, both governments will designate arbitrators or mediators that will represent each country, to make specific new points of negotiation.

Although both governments reiterated their decision to build a “positive agenda from now on”, the document of 11 points given in New York, it lets see that still there are many sensitivities to surpass.

SOCIAL CONTEXT

Demography

The country has a population of almost 46 million inhabitants according to the last national census, which constitutes it in the fourth country most populated in America. Of those, 51.4% are women and 48.6% are men. Most of the population is in the center (Andean region) and the north (Caribbean and Pacific region) of the country, whereas to the east and the south (Amazonia and Eastern prairies, respectively) are quite large zones without great populations and generally depopulated.

Although the total population is increasing, the participation of each sex within the total of the population has stayed relatively constant.

Nevertheless, the demographic transition has occurred towards a particular increase of the third age or older population: while the total population increased 1.9% annual average, the population older than 80 years grew to an annual average rate of almost 4%. This demographic group is exposed to particular risks such as the incapacity to generate income and, therefore, the demand of social assistance.

The increase of the population has not occurred in a proportional way at the urban zones and the rural ones; most of the increase appeared in the cities. This is evidence of a continuous process of migration from the countryside towards the cities.

On the other hand, Colombia has presented important advances in the life expectancy as much for men as for women. Also, important progresses in terms of infant and maternal mortality are demonstrated.

In relation to the size of the Colombian homes, the reduction in the number of children not only occurred in absolute terms, but also as a proportion within the members of the household. In contrast, every time there exist more adults older than 65 years in the average Colombian household.

Although in Colombia the global and general fertility rates have been reduced, the adolescent fertility has not stopped being a worrisome problem.

In conclusion, although the Colombian situation has improved through an increase in the life expectancy at birth and a reduction of infant and maternal mortalities, there exists a latent problem of adolescent fertility that does not allow more significant improvements of the demographic situation. In addition, the country is undergoing a demographic transition characterized by a gradual aging of the population.

Education

The basic and medium education in Colombia is organized based on three main levels: pre-school (young children from 5 to 6 years old), primary education (children from 7 to 11 years old) and secondary education (youngsters from 12 to 17 years old).  Since 1990, the matriculation was increased in a significant way for the three educational levels.

The higher education in Colombia includes three modalities of pre-degree (professional technical, technological and university) and three modalities of postgraduate (specialization, magister and doctorate). In the case of the higher education, also an important increase of the matriculation is demonstrated.

These increases in the scholastic matriculation, in particular, in the basic levels, allowed to be reduced as much the rate of illiteracy as to increase the average schooling years of the population.

Nevertheless, although the matriculation and the levels of schooling of the Colombian population are increasing, challenges still exist in terms of coverage. In 2003 the net coverage in pre-school is only 43%; in primary, 86%; in basic, 63%; and in high school education, 35%.

The educational coverage is not yet universal. Supply restrictions exist, such as insufficiency of scholastic quotas, long distances between the homes of the children and the schools, and high educational costs, in particular, for the households with lower income. In addition, the desertion levels are high. 

On the other hand, in terms of access to the educational system of the different socioeconomic groups, the scholastic attendance does not yet reaches 100%, in particular, for the households with smaller income. For example, in 2003, the scholastic attendance of children of 5 and 6 years old was only 79% for the poorest group, compared with 97% in the richest group. For the young people of 16 and 17 years old, the attendance in the poorest group was 59%, compared with 81% in the richest group.

POLITICAL CONTEXT

According to its Constitution, Colombia is a social rule of law, organized in the form of unitary Republic, decentralized, with autonomy of its territorial organizations, democratic, participatory and pluralistic, founded on the respect to the human dignity, on work, and solidarity of the people who integrates it, and on the prevalence of the general interest.

The Constitution defines a separation of power between the branches of public power, legislative, executive and judiciary.

The president and the vice-president are elected directly by means of the universal suffrage and are chosen for a period of four years with the absolute majority of the voting that, in a secret and direct way, the citizens deposit. In case the absolute majority is not reached, the second electoral return is predicted three weeks after the first round.

In 2005, by means of a constitutional reform, the postulation as presidential candidate was allowed to the President of the Republic in exercise by an additional period of four years (Article 190). In the elections of 2006 president Alvaro Uribe Vélez was reelected with a total of 7.397.835 votes (equivalent to: 62.35% of votes).

At the moment the Congress has approved the possibility of a referendum for a new presidential re-election that would favor current president Alvaro Uribe.

The President and Vice-president were chosen by popular voting for a mandate of four years in the elections of the past May 28th, 2006 (the next ones to be celebrated will be in May, 2010). The president was reelected with the following percentage: Alvaro Uribe Vélez 62%, Carlos Gaviria Diaz, 22%, Horacio Serpa Uribe 12%, other 4%

Legislative Power

It is exerted by the Congress of the Republic in bicameral form with a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Senate is integrated by 102 senators, 100 elected by national circumscription and two elected by special indigenous circumscription. The House of Representatives is formed by 166 representatives, elected directly by means of the universal, nominal and public suffrage by departmental circumscription, proportional to the population of each department and the capital district, for a period of four years, being able to be reelected. Five of those seats belong to minority sectors such as Indigenous, Afro-Colombians and Colombians abroad.

The last elections to the Senate were on March 12th, 2006 and the next ones will be in March 2010. In the Senate the seats by political party were: PSUN 20, PC 18, PL 18, GR 15, PDI 10 and other parties 21; in the House of Representatives: PL 35, PSUN 33, PC 29, GR 20, PDA 8 and other  political parties 41.

The Judiciary

There are four Higher Courts: the Supreme Court of Justice, that is the highest court of the penal law, elected every 8 years; the Constitutional Court, that is the international guard of the integrity and supremacy of the constitution, norms on the constitutionality of the laws, amendments to the constitution and treaties; the Superior Council of the Judicature, that administers civil justice; and the Council of State, that is the administrative court.

Political parties and leaders

Colombia counts on 15 political parties officially recognized, and numerous non-officials political parties who did not have the necessary recognition in order to appear in the legislative elections of 2006.

The most important leaders are: Efraín José Cepeda Sarabia from the Colombian Conservative  Political Party or PC; Carlos Gaviria Díaz from the Alternative Democratic Pole or PDA; Caesar Gaviria Trujillo from the Liberal Political Party or PL; Germán Vargas Lleras from the Radical Change or CR; and Carlos Ferro Solanilla from the National Unity Political Party or U Party.

Groups of political pressure

Both main insurgent groups that act in Colombia are the Army of National Liberation or ELN and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC.

ECONOMIC CONTEXT

The economy of Colombia is the fourth of Latin America according to the IMF and the fifth according to the WB. It has undergone an average annual growth of 5.5% since 2002. In 2007, 20,5 million Colombians served as the labor force in the economy, with an average income of US$6.700, [] producing US$319.500 million for the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country. Nevertheless, the inequality in the distribution of wealth keeps 49,2% Colombians living below the line of national poverty, to which it is added the deficient pension system, unemployment (11,2% in 2007) and under-employment.

Colombia has undergone an accelerated growth between 2002 and 2007, with an expansion superior to 7% in 2007, mainly due to the advances in the internal security, to the highly priced basic products, and to economic policies of free trade promulgated by President Uribe. The sustained growth of Colombia helped to reduce poverty in a 20% and to reduce unemployment in a 25% since 2002. In addition, the hydrocarbon sector reforms favorable to Colombia and the Agreement of Commercial Promotion between Colombia and the United States of America (CTPA) have attracted record levels of foreign investment.

However, inequality, under -employment, and drug trafficking continues being important challenges, and the Colombian infrastructure requires an important update in order to maintain the economic expansion.

The economic growth fell in 2008 as a result of the world-wide  financial crisis and weakness of the demand for exports of Colombia. In response, the Uribe administration has reduced capital controls, it has prepared lines of emergency credit for multilateral institutions, and promotes incentives to investment as the mechanism of free trade zone, contracts of legal stability, and new bilateral treaties of investment and trade agreements. The government also has encouraged the exporters to diversify their customers base outside the United States of America and Venezuela, that at the present time are the majors commercial partners. Nevertheless, the enterprise sector continues being worried about the impact of a world-wide recession on the exports of Colombia, as well as the approval of the CTPA, that it is suspended in the Congress of the U.S.A.

Other data of interest

Internally Moved People: Because of the conflict between the government, the illegal armed groups and the drug traffickers, it is calculated between 1.8 and 3.5 million internal displaced in 2007.

Illicit drugs: Colombia is the world-wide leader in the cultivation of cocaine with 167000 hectares in 2007, which supposes an increase of 6% with respect to 2006, producing a potential of 535 tons of pure cocaine. Also it is world-wide the major producer of cocaine derivatives and provides cocaine to U.S.A. In 2005, an air spraying fumigation of more than 130,000 hectares was performed; but a fast re-plantation on the part of the cultivators of cocaine took place. This means that Colombia continues being enclave for producers, and a great part of the product of the drug trafficking is money-laundered or invested in the country through the black market. In addition it is an important supplier of heroin for the American market (2008).

Sources:

National Report of Human Development 2003

http://indh.pnud.org.co/pagina.plx?pg=descargaInforme2003&mlat=11  [August 2009]

Company Fact Book

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/co.html  [August 2009]

General information of Colombia

http://www.democraticdialoguenetwork.org/network/cases/view.pl?cases_id=12;lang=es  [August 2009]

Basic data of Colombia

http://www.democraticdialoguenetwork.org/network/cases/view.pl?cases_id=12;var_name=abstract;lang=es  [August 2009]

Information of press of Colombia

http://www.democraticdialoguenetwork.org/network/cases/files.pl?cases_id=12;type=1;lang=es [August 2009]

Prepared by: Karen Rodriguez Guinea. Expert in Communications and International Decentralized Cooperation. Update: October, 2009.