Abu Juwairiya
Junior Member
I selected the excerpt below to illustrate a glimpse of a an example of where 'democracy' as a concept works, is featured and displayed as an international model of how democratic systems continue to thrive and where there is a degree of prosperity in addition to sustained economic growth.
It is interesting to see however, Columbia, like other countries with appalling human rights records, are often the recipients of huge loans and weapons supplies by the United States, which are then subsequently used against the native populations.
John Pilger in 'The New Rulers of the World' (125: 2002) summarised the Foreign Aid Bill passed by the US Senate in 2000 approved $1.3 billion for the Colombian military, while a pittance of the $75 million in the same Bill was allocated separately for the poorest countries.
"The daily lives of civilians around the country, from the capital city of Bogotá to the most remote areas of the mountains, were affected on a regular basis by the roadblocks, kidnappings, “taxes,” massacres, murders, and forced displacements that characterized the conflicts between the State, guerrilla groups, paramilitary groups [pmgs], and drug lords.
The internal conflict in Colombia dated back more than four decades, with State security forces (including the police, military, and intelligence units) pitted against several insurgent guerrilla groups.
During the late 1980s and 1990s, more than one hundred paramilitary groups organized and entered the fray, aligned with the State in the goal of eradicating the leftist guerrillas. Adding to the violence were the drug traffickers, who served as an important ally and source of financing for various parties in the conflict at various times, including, most recently, paramilitary groups.
In the late 1990s, the conflict became so widespread and the parties so entrenched that the subversion of institutional order was total. Kidnapping and forced conscription became nearly unavoidable, driving many parents to send their children out of the country on student exchange programs rather than risk their children’s safety in a hopeful wait for a visa.
Some of the paramilitary “troops” were civilians, others retired or off-duty military officers. The groups often had allies within local military and/or security forces.
They were armed and trained, and committed military-style “attacks” against villages and groups that generally involved multiple slayings (or massacres) and often theft and destruction of homes or property. pmgs also kidnapped, disappeared, and displaced victims, employed tactics including rape, theft, and torture to terrorize, and used forced conscription to inflate their own ranks and shrink the pool of potential guerrilla recruits.
Unlike those in Chiapas [Mexico], the paramilitary groups in Colombia became some of the most significant political actors on that country’s national stage. They controlled vast swaths of the country and had allies at local and national levels of government.
Despite this, Colombia managed to maintain a democratic system of government complete with elections, constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties and human rights in accord with most major international treaties and documents, and enjoyed economic growth and relative stability.
While Colombia boasts one of Latin America’s longest-running periods of democratic elections uninterrupted by coup or military regime, it simultaneously languishes as a country with one of the most violent histories in the region.
Political differences have been dealt with via partisan armed conflict for nearly a century, notwithstanding a two-party system and democratic political institutions that date back to independence.
Despite the generations of bloodshed, very little has been resolved in the way of the fundamental issues plaguing the country." (Source: "Death Squads or Self Defence Forces: How Paramilitary groups emerge and challenge democracy in Central America By Julie Mazzei, P 78-79, 2009)
It is interesting to see however, Columbia, like other countries with appalling human rights records, are often the recipients of huge loans and weapons supplies by the United States, which are then subsequently used against the native populations.
John Pilger in 'The New Rulers of the World' (125: 2002) summarised the Foreign Aid Bill passed by the US Senate in 2000 approved $1.3 billion for the Colombian military, while a pittance of the $75 million in the same Bill was allocated separately for the poorest countries.
"The daily lives of civilians around the country, from the capital city of Bogotá to the most remote areas of the mountains, were affected on a regular basis by the roadblocks, kidnappings, “taxes,” massacres, murders, and forced displacements that characterized the conflicts between the State, guerrilla groups, paramilitary groups [pmgs], and drug lords.
The internal conflict in Colombia dated back more than four decades, with State security forces (including the police, military, and intelligence units) pitted against several insurgent guerrilla groups.
During the late 1980s and 1990s, more than one hundred paramilitary groups organized and entered the fray, aligned with the State in the goal of eradicating the leftist guerrillas. Adding to the violence were the drug traffickers, who served as an important ally and source of financing for various parties in the conflict at various times, including, most recently, paramilitary groups.
In the late 1990s, the conflict became so widespread and the parties so entrenched that the subversion of institutional order was total. Kidnapping and forced conscription became nearly unavoidable, driving many parents to send their children out of the country on student exchange programs rather than risk their children’s safety in a hopeful wait for a visa.
Some of the paramilitary “troops” were civilians, others retired or off-duty military officers. The groups often had allies within local military and/or security forces.
They were armed and trained, and committed military-style “attacks” against villages and groups that generally involved multiple slayings (or massacres) and often theft and destruction of homes or property. pmgs also kidnapped, disappeared, and displaced victims, employed tactics including rape, theft, and torture to terrorize, and used forced conscription to inflate their own ranks and shrink the pool of potential guerrilla recruits.
Unlike those in Chiapas [Mexico], the paramilitary groups in Colombia became some of the most significant political actors on that country’s national stage. They controlled vast swaths of the country and had allies at local and national levels of government.
Despite this, Colombia managed to maintain a democratic system of government complete with elections, constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties and human rights in accord with most major international treaties and documents, and enjoyed economic growth and relative stability.
While Colombia boasts one of Latin America’s longest-running periods of democratic elections uninterrupted by coup or military regime, it simultaneously languishes as a country with one of the most violent histories in the region.
Political differences have been dealt with via partisan armed conflict for nearly a century, notwithstanding a two-party system and democratic political institutions that date back to independence.
Despite the generations of bloodshed, very little has been resolved in the way of the fundamental issues plaguing the country." (Source: "Death Squads or Self Defence Forces: How Paramilitary groups emerge and challenge democracy in Central America By Julie Mazzei, P 78-79, 2009)
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