The

saga of Colombia: tragedy and rebellion in Latin America, XX-XXI century

Facundo Escobar.-

The United States (US) strategic deployment in Latin America presents an extensive record.
Since the so-called Monroe Doctrine (1823, "America for the Americans"), there has been
no letup in the interference processes that took on various forms, intensities, continuities
and mixed effects. By the end of World War II, the liberal order was formed and could be
defined in terms of polarities. US vs USSR bipolarity was unfolding. Two forces in a
multidimensional dispute, on a global scale, moving towards balance and the rest of the
actors turning as satellites, proxies or forming the Third World. The end of the USSR was
followed by the era of unipolarity, which still persists despite rearrangements and
multipolarity tests, having the neoliberalism expanded with devastation throughout the
world and the US turned into The Sole Superpower, along with constituted hegemony and
"Americanized" societies. Throughout the 20th century, Latin America turned to be a
territory that provided vital sustenance for that hegemony and power.

There is of course the Middle East or Asia Pacific scenario where the US has a massive
presence which exceeds, in material terms and global impact its presence in Latin America,
e.g. military footprint, recent or current confrontational scenarios, direct investment.
Nonetheless Latin America constitutes a territory where sophisticated strategies have been
devised out, making this continent a lynchpin to the US hegemony formation process,
therefore, vital for its rivalry with other world powers (Ceceña). After World War II, US
deployed a massive continental offensive that overdetermined destinies in American
nations, installed social policies, influenced or shaped actual (or potential) economies and
diplomatic processes; it even stablished military/civilian "puppet" governments, while
rebellions and confronting libertarian/liberation movements grew. In doing so Colombia
turned to be one of the US closest allies in the world and scene for a colossal and unique
counter insurgency experience. Here we will address Colombia´s instance, where more than
450,000 people died because of the armed conflict between 1948 and 2018.

THE BURDEN OF HISTORY

Would it be feasible to tell that´s how Colombia came to be a sort of continued domination
model? Either way it's safe to say an oligarchic bloc has consolidated itself in power during
that period, providing continuity to anti-popular and repressive governments, carrying out
strong and persistent policies in favor of a handful of powerful families. This resulted in
large masses of dispossessed, displaced, landless, poor and marginalized people with
countless unfulfilled demands in a democracy that has had 5 progressive presidential
candidates assassinated since the beginning of the second half of the 20th century.

The first one was Jorge Eliécer Gaitán (April 9, 1948), a mass leader, professional politician
with enormous and popular support who had been projecting himself as the next president,
making the foundations of the economic and political regime tremble. At that time similar
leaders also emerged in Latin America, most of whom came from the military. Gaitán instead
was a civilian. Perhaps, in the eyes of the local oligarchy and American imperialism that was
even more dangerous. On the same day of his assassination, the world witnessed the so-
called "Bogotazo", a massive and violent uprising, a chaotic response by masses of people
to the killing of their leader -which meant the annihilation of their hopes somehow-,
resulting in popular defeat and thousands of deaths. The oligarchic rule and the landowner
model deepened.

From then on it started a civil war formally called “La Violencia” (1948–1958/64), during
which fights between the main parties (Conservative and Liberal) had left more than
200,000 people dead, most of them poor from rural communities, of which Colombia still
has a lot.

At that time, the so-called National Security Doctrine or the installation of military
dictatorships trained at the US Army School of the Americas (SOA) was implemented in
order to sustain or restore order in the face of rising and powerful revolts and revolutions.

Starting in 1950s, Colombian low and middle class peasant and farmers organized
themselves as "independent republics” based in Marquetalia (Tolima) and grew outside the
control of the state. Denounced by the government as communist communities that
threatened national security, Colombian Army and paramilitary groups persecuted the
insurgent. But they resisted. Finally, as part of John F. Kennedy anti-communist LASO plan
(Latin American Security Operation), deployed Operation Marquetalia was deployed on
May 18, 1964, the largest counterinsurgency operation carried out until then in Latin
America: 1,000 soldiers under US leadership landed in the area. Whole communities were
bombed and besieged. A large number were killed. Entire families starved. Survivors
managed to break the military siege, took refuge in Riochiquito and formed the South Bloc
giving birth, in union with the Communist Party of Colombia, to FARC (Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia) a Marxist-Leninist guerrilla, having reached an all-time high of
20,000 fighters. Shortly after, other powerful guerrillas also were born (ELN, National
Liberation Army; M-19 etc.). The peaceful and democratic route had been violently closed
again by landowner and militaristic fury.

IN THE BEGINNING THE USAID WAS CREATED

April 1961. The world witnessed the US first major military defeat in Latin America:
the failure of the CIA invasion of Cuba at Playa Girón. Shortly thereafter, on November 3,
Alliance for Progress was officially launched: US first strategic (anticommunist) plan with
claims of continental leadership. Just one month later JFK visited Bogotá and installed the
Peace Corps and several governmental organizations, including USAID (US Agency for
International Development). Two weeks later (January 2, 1962) Cuba declared the Socialist
Revolution and became an opening or a catalyst for a resounding cycle of national liberation
struggles.

The relevance of this kind of policies and their persistence over time set the tone for
Colombia's relations with the US. USAID Director General Mark Green recently visited
Colombia (May 13, 2019) and announced a fresh $160 million assistance program for
Colombian brand new government. President Iván Duque welcomed the orientation given
for the money. He said the funds would primarily be used in productivity projects involving
former FARC militants and to improve security and state presence in isolated regions where
FARC and other guerrillas were present. Greens underlined the tenor of the relationship
between both nations: “It’s worth celebrating because we’re much more than mere
partners, we’re close neighbors and true friends…There is an unshakable bond between our
two nations…This special relationship has grown throughout the years as we’ve helped
honor each other in moments of crisis or challenge”.

During Alliance for Progress term -steeped by a thriving democratic rhetoric-, US military
and political interference actions multiplied throughout the continent. Military intervention
is usually flanked (or vice versa) by multiple non-military activities, among which the
USAID programs stand out. Nonetheless, in general terms (with some exceptions), direct
and open intervention started losing support from US Congress and civil society.
Meanwhile, other intrusive doctrines such as Counterinsurgency were born as convergence
of multiple US experiences around the world, from Vietnam, Afghanistan to Cuba, Nicaragua,
El Salvador, Panama and more recently, Colombia (also local experience, e.g. “long hot
summer” and the African American liberation movements repression). Since then, USAID
together with other agencies, had been very active in the country and the region, supporting
or funding social activism, NGOs, universities, and political parties compatible with the US
exceptionalist program.

PARAMILITARY HEAVEN

Violence against leftist parties and revolutionary forces lashed out in the country.
Leadership and members of parties and civil society organizations created out of the
different insurgent demobilization process were systematically massacred, particularly in
the 1980s and 1990s. Between 1984 and 2002 Colombian State and paramilitary
organizations kidnapped, killed or disappeared around 5,000 members belonging to legal
FARC-affiliated Patriotic Union: a whole political party was annihilated. Between 2002 and
2008 during president Alvaro Uribe´s government (far-right hardliner), his military and
paramilitary mates killed at least 2,300 non-belligerent civilians in extrajudicial executions
by passing them as casualties in combat: the infamous "False Positives". By 2008 Colombia
turned to be the most dangerous place in the word for trade unionists. At that time about
60% of all trade unionist in the world were assassinated or disappeared in Colombia by
state or paramilitary agents. The vast majority of cases still remain unpunished.

Here we have another of the major actors in this tragedy: the paramilitary organizations.
We will address the link between them, Colombian state, political elites, landowners and
drug traffickers in a next article. Suffice it to say for now that Colombian paramilitary groups
consolidated in April 1997 into the powerful Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (United Self-
Defense Forces of Colombia, AUC), a far-right anticommunist armed umbrella organization.
In 2006 AUC was disarticulated and 30,000 members were demobilized. Although a large
number of them became reservoir for new criminal gangs still operating. By 1994,
legislative decree 356 already had loosened the regulations surrounding security
companies allowing individuals and corporations to set up multiple “special security
services” known as Convivir (live together) for non-offensive operations, authorized for the
use of heavy weaponry, which became a sort of façade for new and old paramilitaries.

From their primal experience in fighting Marquetalia rebels, criminal organizations grew,
expanded their range of action and consolidated, penetrating everything around. These
groups drew support from and operated with elements of the Colombian military, police,
politicians, landed elites, drug traffickers and big energy or agriculture corporations
impacted by guerrilla revolutionary activities. The so-called “para-politics” scandal
(breaking in 2006) triggered investigations into over 11,000 politicians and businessmen
because of their relations with far-right illegal paramilitary groups or drug trafficking,
sending 60 congressmen and 7 governors to jail. Land holders, cattle ranchers and
agricultural and industrial corporations (e.g. Coca-Cola, coffee or banana growers)
contracted their services to fight guerrillas and cracking down on the leftist rebel groups,
agrarian leaders and trade unionist. Chiquita Brand, for example, admitted paying AUC for
protection and agreed to pay a total of $25 million in fines. Furthermore the company
supported paramilitaries by facilitating the use of its fruit shipments as containers for
weapons and drugs. Main objective: uphold the prevailing order.

COUNTERINSURGENT MILITARY DIMENSION

Colombian Army is not just any army. According to the “The Military Balance 2019” report
(International Institute for Strategic Studies -IISS) Brazil, Colombia and Mexico are the
countries that invested the most in defense by 2018 and have the largest armies in Latin
America. Colombia has nearly 293,000 active military units (militia 223,150; navy 56,400;
air force 13,650). During 2018 the Colombian government invested $10 billion in military
and defense (+ 3% of its GDP).

Colombian Army, widely viewed today as Latin America’s best-prepared and most
professional military has become what it is because of the evolution of the country's internal
struggles, the illegal military operations, fight against (and alongside) drug cartels and
paramilitaries, repression of the insurgents, and because of the over-determination by the
US military and government influence.

At the turn of the century, the Colombian government had already lost control over half of
its territory to powerful non-state actors. Civil war, paramilitaries, drug trafficking,
powerful revolutionary groups. In a framework given by neoliberalism decline and the
emergence of new disruptive popular leaders (e.g. Hugo Chávez wins 1998 elections in
Venezuela), the US got down to business.

Pablo Escobar’s unrelenting violence against both state forces and criminal rivals led to the
formation of the People Persecuted by Pablo Escobar (Los Pepes), which included drug
traffickers and assassins. Many agencies participated in the hunt for Escobar (1992-93). US
Delta Force trained a Colombian police unit called Bloque de Búsqueda (Search Block) with
whom Pepes worked together. Certainly, a very outstanding cooperation landmark.

Among the military/security cooperation programs developed by the US and Colombia, it is

necessary to highlight the so-called Plan Colombia, initially launched in 2000. Hatched in
the aftermath of the Cold War it was conceived to fight drug trafficking and coca plantations
that only expanded since the killing of Pablo Escobar. Quickly, the fight turn from counter-
narcotics to counter-insurgency. After 20 years and $11 billion dollars invested by the US,
this security aid package is celebrated by many Republicans and Democrats in Congress as
one of the top foreign policy achievements of the 21st century.

This tragic saga has led to the installation of 9 military bases with US troops and mercenary
contractors all around Colombia, along with the design and implementation of the so called
Forward Operating Location (F.O.L.), a military scheme that allows strategic mobility, the
capacity to trigger sudden wars from U.S. bases, rapidly-deploy airborne troops, driving the
proliferation of security agreements with various countries, partnering with the US in its
recolonization initiative.

Colombian ended up being the third-largest recipient of US military assistance at global

scale, only behind Egypt and Israel. Duque will receive $448 million in aid in fiscal year
2020. About half of the money would go for military and other security programs. This
budget line reached its historic ceiling with George W. Bush, who sent $600 million dollars
a year. In Obama's time it reached a ceiling of $450 million a year.

In August 2002, president Bush signed antiterrorism legislation authorizing Colombia to

use this aid to directly combat FARC, ELN and AUC. Same month Álvaro Uribe became
president and signed the National Security Presidential Directive 18, formally expanding
the uses of Plan Colombia to include counterterrorist objectives. The country was fully back
at war.

Along with the “legal” cooperation, as revealed by The Washington Post in 2013, the US,
together with several Colombian governments implemented a top-secret program
particularly devastating to the insurgent groups, funded through a multibillion-dollar black
budget. US provided Colombian forces with all kind of training and equipment. For example,
the satellite-guided bomb “kits” that killed more than two dozen FARC main commanders,
including the aforementioned Mono Jojoy and Reyes. American intelligence agents working
with Colombian teams coordinated the strikes. Precision ammunition enabled the
Colombian military to penetrate the dense jungle and obliterate rebel encampments. CIA
also trained Colombian interrogators to more effectively question thousands of FARC
deserters. In 2013, the air force upgraded its fleet of Israeli-made Kfir fighter jets, fitting
them with Israeli-made Griffin laser-guided bombs. It has also fitted smart bombs onto
some of its Super Tucanos.

A main thrust of this offensive was to wipe out the insurgent leadership. Targeting the FARC
leadership. Exactly what the CIA and JSOC had been doing against al-Qaeda or ISIS leaders
among others. Early March 2008. An unprecedented air strike from Colombia on FARC camp
in Ecuadorian territory was conducted: senior commander Raul Reyes is killed. (At the end
of the same month, the mythical FARC founder Manuel Marulanda Vélez died of natural
causes). September 2010, "Operation Sodom": cleared Jorge Briceño Suárez (Mono Jojoy)
in another air assault. Alfonso Cano, fenced and fallen in combat, November 2011. “We are
breathing down his neck" then president Santos declared a few days before. Detected and
eliminated. Along with them, many more combatants dead or detained. Constant political
and military pressure. Finally, the path of the Peace Accords was imposed. Before moving
to legality the Tenth National Guerrilla Conference (2016) stated that the Peace Agreements
expressed the social correlation of forces and the political-military and historical-concrete
balance of the war. However, Santos himself began to dismantle the Agreements shortly
after they were signed. ¿Was the reconciliation a farce and peace nothing more than a web
of lies?

Form 2012 onwards a complex mechanism for dialogue was deployed, becoming into a
milestone in international politics and diplomacy. It seemed that peace was a realistic
prospect after many unsuccessful attempts since the 80's, all of which ended up in tragedy,
along with thousands of deaths among those who were demobilizing and developing a
public political life, as the Patriotic Union party already mentioned. Duque´s government
continued Santos' legacy: disarm, breach and dissolve the content of the pact while trying
to display the idea that its implementation was on the right track. Since the signing of the
pact in Havana, demobilized leaders have been imprisoned, there has been judicial
persecution, attempts at extradition to the US; anathema, stigmatization, slander has been
installed (Santrich=drug trafficker; Marquez=mafia), along with more killings of course.
More than 500 social, union or political leaders and 200 guerrilla demobilized fighters have
been assassinated since 2016. On the way to 2019 elections another 22 candidates have
been killed and 200 received threats. You may find it again tomorrow in the news. Those
are some of the main reasons why a group of FARC commanders had no choice but to
resume armed struggle. In light of this situation, it seems that a clear objective was to
impose a defeat on the insurgency on the level of public life, which ends up working by
double effect: punishing the idea of the armed uprising against the current social order, and
disciplining, forestalling and containing future rebellions.

Last but no least it is worth remembering that Colombia has been forging relations with 29-
nation NATO alliance since 2008 to finally become its first Latin American global partner.
Colombia and NATO will cooperate on global security areas like cyber and maritime
security, terrorism and links to organized crime.

Undoubtedly, Colombia has turned into a prominent component in the US imperialism

military experience scheme.

AGAINST THE AXIS OF EVIL

Colombian government’s corrosive stance towards Venezuela is well known. Duque has
made it very clear: “diplomatic blockade”. In this approach, Maduro must be defined as a
dictator who violates human rights of his own population and rules a country where there
is no freedom, which is being shattered by a humanitarian crisis. Meanwhile, the threat of
invasion, an option that is repeatedly brought back to the table, seems to be displaced from
the center and some governments in the region (Lima Group) are working with the US and
Canada to get Maduro out of government demanding new elections while they all recognize
Juan Guaidó as “interim president” (recently honored by Trump at State of the Union). Here
is also were Colombian criminal organizations come into play. Venezuelan authorities
reported a recent capture of 14 members of the narco-paramilitary group 'Los Rastrojos',
in the city of Boca de Grita, state of Tachira, bordering Colombia. 'Los Rastrojos' are accused
in Colombia of being a paramilitary organization dedicated to drug trafficking and illegal
mining, and responsible for hundreds of murders on both sides of the Venezuelan-
Colombian border. More recently they became widely known after leaked controversial
photos of its members with Venezuelan opposition congressman Juan Guaidó in 2019
before the 'Venezuela Aid Live' concert held in the Colombian city of Cucuta. As we know,
21st century´s wars are being fought in multidimensional scenarios.

Colombia is also playing an important role as part of an strategic maneuver that goes far
beyond the Venezuela issue and the continent's borders. This year, on January 20, Bogotá
hosted the III Hemispheric Ministerial Conference to Combat Terrorism. Mike Pompeo was
there and specially praised Colombia’s designation of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization,
joining Argentina, Paraguay and Honduras. Washington is pushing the narrative that
together with Iran, the Lebanese party is working along with Maduro´s government and
other non-state actors such us FARC-EP, or countries with anti-American governments and
of course, other criminal and drug trafficking organizations. “We all know too that the
Iranian regime’s top terrorist proxy Hezbollah has found a home in Venezuela under
Maduro” Pompeo said in Bogota. “We have seen the presence of Hezbollah cells in countries
like Venezuela, seizing the consent and connivance of the Nicolas Maduro dictatorship” Iván
Duque added.

Adm. Craig S. Faller, head of the U.S. Southern Command, speaking before the Senate Armed
Services Committee on Capitol Hill (31 january 2020) made clear the strategic lines: that
represents a "vicious circle of threats that deliberately erodes the security and stability of
this region (LatAm)…Transnational criminal organizations and external states actors like
China, Russia, Iran, and violent extremist organizations are trying to advance their interests
at the expense of U.S. and partner-nation security.”

During In his most recent visit to Washington (March 2020), Duque shared a last minute
joint press conference with Trump, gave a lecture at the CFR, and delivered a speech at the
American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Addressing in English, Duque reminded
attendees that his government has been receiving support from US and Israel to fight
terrorism over a protracted time, and along with other Latin American countries they have
“decided to adopt the terrorist lists of the US ant the EU…organizations such as Hezbollah
need to be destroyed (applauses), like ELN, like the FARC dissidences, like Hamas…The
dictatorship of Venezuela has also the traces of anti-semitism, and they have also opened
the doors for Hezbollah”. Ultimately he announced a visit to Israel to set in motion a free
trade agreement between both countries.

FINAL WORDS

Latin America hides immense natural wealth. It is no secret. The largest oil basin on the
continent is located only a few kilometers away from Florida (Venezuela, Colombia and the
Gulf of Mexico). Argentina, Chile and Bolivia are part of South America’s so-called “lithium
triangle” which holds 54% of the world’s lithium resources. Amazon rainforest it´s the
planet's richest region in terms of biodiversity. South America has the largest availability of
fresh water resources both per capita and per area at global scale. Undoubtedly, natural
resources have always been at the core of US interest over the continent, and Colombia has
become a platform situated right in the center of the continent, crucial to the full-spectrum
dominance that the US is looking forward (Ceceña), pierced by a 70-year-old armed conflict
during which more than 460,000 people lost their lives, 200,000 between 1948 and another
260,000 between that date and 2018 (conservative figures).

Whilst US discourages direct action, it delegates or fulfills coordination functions, within an

enormous radius of action, relying on military positions that have multiplied since the
Obama and Hillary Clinton governments. Along with the 9 US military bases in Colombia,
another 60 military bases are deployed on the continent (outside the US and Canada),
concentrated specially in Central America and the Caribbean, to which other possible
clandestine or contingent-use bases should be added.

Considering all its accumulated experience, projecting its security model to the possible
extent, Colombian military started transferring its skills to other countries, having trained
thousands of military and police forces in Central America, Mexico, and other countries. A
role model for Latina America.

Colombia may be turning more relevant to the US by becoming a stable stronghold where
to retreat, sustain itself, obtain support and operate outward in the midst of a burning
situation at a global and continental level. Historical allies are going through chaotic
situations. Since November 2019 for instance, Chile, one of its strongest allies in the region,
has been experiencing an unprecedented outbreak, a popular revolt that has demolished
every myth surrounding one of the most extolled economic model by capitalists and liberal
governments. Duque, also faces unmatchable challenges.

Unparalleled numbers of Colombians have taken to the streets. There have been protests
against the announcement of unpopular reforms that seek to deepen the neoliberal model.
Innovative manifestations on multiple fronts with a massive support, heterogeneous social
component and strong anti-systemic tone, including confrontation against the security
forces, resulting in hundreds of wounded and some protesters killed. After years of terror
and fear, street scene occupation seems to be back and consolidating (something that has
been common in other countries for decades) along the national agrarian strikes, trade
union strikes, student strikes; all of them astounding mobilizations developed in parallel
with the peace dialogues channel.

Colombia is one of the most unequal countries in the world, when considering not only the
very high and massive levels of poverty especially in rural areas but the concentration of
wealth (and land) in few hands. Nearly half of its population is poor and more than 6.3
million had to leave their land after having survived massacres carried out by the army and
paramilitaries or the glyphosate sprayed by Plan Colombia.

Complex systems of domination have been forged in Latin America. Local elites (media,
politics, business men and women, police-military, etc.) converge with external apparatuses
that are part of the US system of power, shaping a capitalism underpinned by plundering of
natural resources, financial speculation and growing marginalization of population
(Beinstein). Despite all this we are facing an open-ended dispute between social forces that
seek to survive, and that in doing so -confronting that domination system- they may bring
forth vast national regeneration and radical anti-systemic movements.

You can check it at the Britannica Encyclopedia: “United States continues to exercise
a proprietary role at times of apparent threat to its national security, and the Western
Hemisphere remains a predominantly US sphere of influence.” Or listen to Trump at the
73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly (2018): "Here in the Western
Hemisphere, we are committed to maintaining our independence from the encroachment
of expansionist foreign powers. It has been the formal policy of our country since President
Monroe that we reject the interference of foreign nations in this hemisphere and in our own
affairs”. One way or another, at this point we should agree that Monroe Doctrine seems to
be alive and kicking. But let us don´t forget Latin America has always been a rebellious
territory.

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