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Ernesto Baez, a leading commander of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, known as the AUC. (AP Images/Luis Benavides)
The popular view of Colombia remains colored by crime, cocaine, and drug kingpins. But under the presidency of Alvaro Uribe, murder rates have decreased sharply and overall security has improved, particularly in once-notorious cities such as Medellin. As a result, investment money is pouring into the country (BusinessWeek) fueled by confianza, or trust. To boost investment, analysts supply clients with graphs of declining murder rates and kidnappings rather than price-earnings ratios.
Since he took office in 2002, Uribe has earned praise for his efforts to end Colombia’s decades-long conflict between leftist guerillas and right-wing paramilitaries. Now, revelations of high-level government collaboration with paramilitary groups, leaked in the fall but confirmed by top-level paramilitary commanders this week (WashPost), threaten to derail Uribe’s domestic standing as well as his friendly relations with the United States.
Paramilitary groups, whose numbers grew rapidly in the 1980s to help business owners counter Colombia’s left-wing guerrillas, massacred tens of thousands of civilians (Global Voices) and financed their operations with cocaine trafficking. Human rights organizations charge that a disarmament process initiated by Uribe, which includes some thirty thousand paramilitary members, has allowed these groups to maintain much of their power. The growing scandal—which now extends to close allies of the president, business leaders, top government officials, military commanders, and foreign corporations—came to light (NYT) through the testimony of paramilitary members in special judiciary hearings called for under the Justice and Peace Law, which governs paramilitary disarmament and critics say provides immunity for human rights abuses.
A new report from the International Crisis Group argues that the flawed disarmament process has allowed new armed groups to emerge that are “increasingly acting as the next generation of paramilitaries.” It suggests the government needs to take serious action that combines law enforcement and military measures. A correspondent for the Economist, blogging on a trip to Colombia, says some Colombians have fled their farms in fear of the paramilitaries, which are said to control local governments.
All this domestic turmoil has serious repercussions in Washington, where Congress is considering a free trade agreement (PDF) with Colombia, one of its strongest allies in a region that is increasingly anti-American. The scandal’s momentum has many legislators balking at the pact. Uribe made a visit to Washington at the beginning of May to lobby Congress, but received a cool reception, prompting him to issue uncharacteristically blunt criticisms of the United States (LAT). Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte urges the continued support of Colombia in an op-ed in the Miami Herald, but the prospects for salvaging the free trade remain agreement unclear.
Congressional uncertainty also calls into question U.S. funding of Plan Colombia, an anti-drug initiative that cost the United States roughly $5 billion over the past seven years. To hedge against the possibility of reduced U.S. aid, Colombia has approached Europe for counter-narcotics assistance (FT). An Online NewsHour debate discusses the mixed results of Plan Colombia. Experts have long criticized the initiative’s lack of attention to economic development: CFR’s Andes 2020 report argued in 2004 that Plan Colombia is too narrowly focused on counter-narcotics and security.
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