Yearbook 2007
Colombia. A minor diplomatic crisis with Venezuela
erupted in November after President Álvaro Uribe refused to
further mediate with leftist guerrilla FARC (Fuerzas Armadas
Revolucionarias de Colombia) via neighboring country
president Hugo Chávez. According to Uribe, Chávez had made
far-reaching pledges to the FARC, and his offer for a
general prisoner exchange on demilitarized Colombian
territory eventually became too much for Uribe. President
Chávez, who enjoys acknowledged great confidence at FARC,
responded by suspending all relations with Colombia as long
as Uribe is president. Chávez's mediation efforts were
primarily concerned with the 45 people who are being held
hostage by FARC, including former presidential candidate
Ingrid Betancourt who has been a prisoner for six years.
Before the mediation work broke down, however, it had come
quite a long way. With the help of Colombian Senator Piedad
Córdoba, the FARC agreed to present evidence that the 45
hostages were in the life against leader Manuel Marulanda
coming to Venezuela's capital Caracas for negotiations.
President Uribe himself had ordered the release of dozens of
FARC members at the beginning of the year, but in June FARC
responded by executing eleven people held hostage.
On October 28, regional elections were held, and
government-friendly parties won half of the 32 governorships
and nearly two-thirds of the mayor's posts at stake. By
contrast, candidate for opposition alliance Polo Democrático
Alternativo (PDA), Samuel Moreno, won the important mayor
post in the capital Bogotá, both considered good for the
opposition's chances for the 2010 presidential election. The
traditional parties did well in the regional elections;
Partido Liberal (PL) won 6 governorships and 207 mayoral
positions, and Partido Conservador (PC) 5 and 240,
respectively.
According to
CountryAAH, President Uribe was persecuted throughout the year by
political scandals. Several congressmen from his support
parties were arrested for conspiring with paramilitary
groups, as was the secret police chief Jorge Noguera. Among
others, Foreign Minister Maria Consuelo Araújo resigned in
February after the disclosure that several of her relatives
had had such contacts. The most important event in the
government's war on cocaine cartels was the arrest in
September of Diego Montoya, leader of the powerful so-called
Norte del Valle cartel.
1994 Narcotics President Samper takes over power
Samper began his reign with a series of victories over
the drug addict, but in September 1995 he was struck by a
political scandal when a Cali cartel spokesman revealed
details of the cartel's support for both Sampers and
Pastrana's election campaigns. Defense Minister Fernando
Botero, who had been the leader of Samper's election
campaign, was sent to prison for illegal enrichment.
In August 1996, Samper declared the state of emergency in
reference to the wave of violence and abductions, but the
move was at the same time interpreted as an attempt to
protect himself against the charges of drug addiction.
Still, the assassinations of opposition politicians and the
FARC, as well as the ELN's attacks on high-voltage lines,
oil pipelines, as well as police posts and military
barracks, continued. The two guerrilla groups carried out
actions on 100 fronts in the country. They controlled
increasingly larger and economically important areas -
including in the coffee areas, the Caribbean and areas near
Medillin and Bogota
Meanwhile, the government's efforts to eradicate the coca
and opium poppy plantations and attacks on drug bases
continued to grow. A number of the main leaders of the
Calikartel - who control 70% of world trade in cocaine -
voluntarily surrendered to the authorities. In March 1996,
the United States removed Colombia from the list of
countries cooperating with the superpower in the fight
against drugs. Colombia was thereby cut off from US aid and
from foreign financial aid. Washington at the same time
refused to issue visas to Samper in an attempt to
diplomatically identify the Colombian president.
About 1,900 candidates withdrew from the October 26 local
elections, as 49 mayors and municipal councilors had been
killed and 180 abducted since the beginning of the year.
Despite the traditionally high boycott of the election, over
5 million voters added a peace symbol to their ballot.
Colombia's Human Rights Ombudsman stated in November that
since August 95, his office has ordered disciplinary
sanctions - including 50 redundancies - against 126 military
and police officers for human rights violations. In the same
period, more than 600 cases have been opened against members
of the security forces involved in the murders, tortures and
disappearances of 1,338 people. During the same period,
approx. 500 abductions made predominantly by members of FARC
and ELN.
Various studies indicated at the beginning of 1997 that a
million Colombians had been displaced as a result of the
conflict - mainly due to the actions of the paramilitary
groups. According to the government, the guerrilla has an
annual net income of $ 750 million - significantly more than
the income from coffee exports. The only company that
exceeds this revenue is the drug cartels in Cali and
Medillin.
In February 98, US President Bill Clinton decided to
"normalize" relations with Bogota, stating "national
interests". According to a World Bank statement, the large
number of homicides in the country is the reason why annual
economic growth is 2% lower than it would otherwise have
been.
In March 98, the military had to record its biggest
defeat in the 35-year battle against the guerrilla, when
60-80 soldiers were killed in combat with the FARC in the
city of Caquetá. The defeat threw the government into its
worst crisis so far as it revealed the inferiority of
government forces in the fight against the guerrillas.
In June, Bogota's conservative former mayor, Andrés
Pastrana was elected president. As leader of the party,
Nueva Fuerza Democática, he got 50.4% of the vote, thus
ending 12 years of uninterrupted liberal rule.
In November 1999, Pastrana proposed a ceasefire that
should signal to the outside world that the parties to the
country's armed conflict were interested in the peace
process. However, as it withdrew with the ratification of
the ceasefire, the FARC strengthened its military operations
and in December launched an attack on the city of Juradó
near the Panama border. The attack cost 23 Navy infantrymen,
1 policeman and 42 partisans. At the same time, 37 soldiers
and police were injured.
Following inspiration from the United States, in August
2000, Pastrana published the so-called Colombia Plan ("Plan
Colombia"), which aimed to destroy 60,000 hectares of coca
fields from the air. As part of the plan, 3 anti-narcotics
battalions were to be set up, trained and equipped by North
American forces and equipped with 60 helicopters to ensure
their mobility. At the same time, the United States
committed $ 1300 million. US $ in predominantly military
assistance. The purpose of the plan was to weaken the
guerrillas and drug addicts financially, rather than meet
them on the battlefield.
Following the attack on New York on September 11, 2001,
Colombia was placed on the United States list of countries
where "terrorism should be fought". Washington, however, did
not go into detail about this new "Plan Colombia", but the
consequence was that the superpower entered the Colombian
government's fight against the guerrillas with more funds,
intelligence and soldiers.
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