Visiting scholars discuss political unrest in Columbia
By Kiflin Turner
News Writer
Columbia is on the brink of an open war, said visiting scholar Eduardo Pizarro, a noted political scientist, writer, and public intellectual. He began Thursday's current affiars panel discussion — entitled "Guns, Drugs, and Money: The Politics of Foreign Aid and Domestic Peace in Columbia" — on the rising internal conflicts in Columbia.
Alvaro Camacho and Nora Segura join Pizarro as visiting scholars who are a part of the larger Columbia Project that seeks solutions to reform the torn nation.
Much of the conflict is due to the institution of insurgent Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC) who receive economic support from ransom, kidnapping and by taxing the coca leaves within the regions that they control.
"On the one hand in the process of production, [cocaine] finances FARK, which has a system of taxation on the peasant. On the other hand, cocaine finances the paramilitary," said Pizarro.
With 80 percent of cocaine coming from Columbia and with 25,000 to 30,000 people in paramilitaries, or armed militias, an internal collapse of the country is underway, said Pizarro.
"I would like to make one point clear, and the premise is that Columbia has to eradicate narcotics and it has to eradicate war," Pizarro said.
The undeclared war in Columbia has increased the rates of homicides and impaired the country's human rights. Pizarro went on to say that this war "has had an effect on the political system in terms of reducing the power of political parties."
With a weakened political system, and the substantial role of paramilitaries, Pizarro cited this inherent instability as a "vicious circle" in which the Colombian people find themselves trapped.
"We don't have an alternative plan we have a fund, which is less that that which has been offered to Bolivia," said Pizarro.
One possible step towards the direction of reform is to provide "property rights to peasants so as to provide them with stability and security," said Pizarro.
By enabling the people to take back possession of their land, it would debilitate the power of the paramilitary and eventually reduce the subjugation of the people to a binding obligation to produce massive amounts of cocaine.
"It has to come from a negotiation process," said Pizarro. The Colombian government must find a way to overtake the paramilitaries by strengthening their own armies.
After amending its own internal strife, said Pizarro, Columbia needs to repair its international relations as well.
"Columbia has to open a way with the European community to acquire a new way of looking at [the situation]," and to open the door for diplomacy, Columbia has to improve its record of human rights in order to gain respect, said Pizarro.
Alvaro Camacho, a noted sociologist in Columbia cites colonization as the "ghost of Latin America," that is to say, a resurgence of violence. Pointing to the effects of hyper-violence and hyper-inflation on the country and on the rule of law, Camacho said that "Latin America has become the most violent macro-region in the world."
Camacho points to Columbia's instable economies and institutions as reasons why the violence rate has increased from 17 to 34 homicides per 4,000 inhabitants.
Through humanitarian intervention and the continuation of negotiating the peace process with the paramilitary, Columbia can begin to break down internal and international barriers. "The best war is the one that is won without a single bullet," said Camacho.
All News Stories for Friday, September 15, 2000
