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Colombia

Government: Presidential republic

Capital: Bogotá
Area: 1,141,748 sq km (440,831 sq mi)

Population: 42,310,775 (the next census is scheduled for May 2005)

Language: Spanish
Religions: 95% Catholic, 1% Protestant

Literacy rate: 92.5%
Infant mortality rate: 21.72 per thousand
Life expectancy: 67.58 years (men), 75.41 years (women)
Population below the poverty line:

Exports: Petroleum and derivatives, coal, coffee, bulbs and flowers, plastics, bananas, cotton products, vehicles, iron alloys, sugar, gold and precious metals
Foreign debt: $28,519,000
Military spending: 3.8% of the GNP

GEOGRAPHY

Colombia is situated at the top of the South American continent. It faces the Antilles Sea between Panama and Venezuela, and faces the Pacific Ocean between Panama and Ecuador. To the east, Colombia shares a border with Venezuela for 2050 km (1,270 mi) and Brazil for 1643 km (1,020 mi). To the south, the border with Peru is 1496 km (930 mi) and with Ecuador 590 km (365 mi). Panama lies to the northwest; its boundary with Colombia is 225 km (140 mi). Colombian territory also includes the small island of Malpelo, the Department of Cauca on the Pacific Coast, and the small islands and banks of Roncador, Serraña, Quitasueño, Bajo Nuevo e Serranilla (part of the archipelago of San Andrés Y Providencia) in the Caribbean Sea.

The country is divided into two distinct parts: the mountainous region of the Andes in the west, and the Eastern Plain (Cordillera Oriental). Colombia’s climate is a product of both its tropical location and mountain altitudes. It is tropical along the coast while in the plains, temperatures fall as altitude increases. Subterranean Colombia is rich in petroleum, natural gas, iron, coal, nickel, gold, copper, emeralds and water resources.

HISTORY

Independent from Spain since 1819, Colombia, until 1830, formed the Republic of Greater Colombia together with Panama, Ecuador, and Venezuela. The current structure and designation was established in 1886. Colombia has always been a site of opposition between liberals and conservatives.

The first free elections were held only in 1974, but the 1960’s saw the beginning of a war between the Socialist-Marxist guerrillas (mainly assembled in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia People’s Army [FARC] and the National Liberation Army [ELN]), and the government, supported by extreme right-wing paramilitaries, consolidated in the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) and financed by rich landowners.

The current Constitution was enacted 5 July, 1991 and from this point, Colombia has been a presidential republic. Since its independence (1830) at the beginning of the twentieth century, the country has been marked by nine civil wars, 11 constitutions, and 14 territorial conflicts. Until 1957 – the year that saw the exhaustion of the majority of Colombia’s oil reserves due to intense exploration – clashes between liberals and conservatives often strayed from the political arena, culminating in the 1948 assassination of the liberal leader, Jose Eliecer Gaitan. Gaitan’s assassination was followed by fierce street rioting (known as El Bogotazo) that laid the foundations for the constitution of the first group of guerrillas. FARC, still led by Manuel “Tiro fijo” (Sure Shot) Marulanda and Jacabo Arenas, made its first appearance in 1964. That same year the conflicts between the rural guerrillas and other paramilitary groups intensified, financed by rich landowners and made up of government troops and mercenaries from all over the world.

In 1974 after 10 years of guerrilla warfare, liberal president Alfonso Lopez Michelsen turned increased attention to popular demands, but powerful economic groups openly attacked him: in 1978, only a third of workers received social assistance. Furthermore, in these years the market price of coffee was very unstable and was subject to sudden changes. The actions of FARC and the April 19 Movement (M-19) intensified.

In 1982, conservative Belisario Betancur was elected president and brought Colombia into the Non-Aligned Movement and initiated peace negotiations with M-19 and FARC. After a few months an agreement was reached to suspend the hostilities. The accord was undermined by the rich landowners that continued to finance special militias, and in less than a year hostilities resumed.

In 1985, clashes between the M-19 guerrillas and the army reached Bogotá and the attempt to occupy the national Palace of Justice led to the deaths of about 100 people between military and civilians. In light of this violent situation, the guerrillas aligned themselves with drug trafficking organizations, which became a bona fide political force: between 1987 and 1990 Jaime Pardo Leal of the Patriotic Union and presidential candidates Luis Carlos Galan, Bernardo Jaramillo, and Carlos Pizarro were assassinated. In about five years, victims of clashes between the guerrillas and military reached a height of 2,000.

At the beginning of the 90’s, paramilitary groups financed by drug trafficking numbered around 140 in Colombia. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), with the passive support of the Colombian government, began chemically bombarding the coke plantations, turning the guerrilla conflict into a real civil war. Even though the newly-elected liberal president Cesar Gaviria managed to organize a series of meetings between the government and representatives of the armed forces – FARC, ELN, the National Liberation Army (EPL) and the Simón Bolívar Guerrilla Coordinating Board – to sign a new truce, in 1992 the peace process encountered an irreversible crisis.

The government declared a state of emergency and began to intervene even against civilian organizations having relations with rebel groups. In the following months, armed conflicts resumed. Pablo Escobar Gaviria – boss of the Medellín cartel, a powerful drug-trafficking organization – placed himself at the head of the guerrillas but a few months later he was killed by the police. In 1996, guerilla warfare had created over 100 open fronts with its offenses: 49 mayors and communal councilors were assassinated and another 180 kidnapped. Furthermore, more than a million people were forced to abandon their property. In 1998 the conservative Andres Pastrana won the elections and promised to put an end to the civil war, but FARC postponed signing the truce and launched various offensives, even against demilitarized zones. In 2000 Pastrana accepted the U.S. proposal to create three anti-drug battalions, trained and equipped by American Special Forces, and backed by 60 helicopters, but the resistance of FARC’s 17,000 guerrillas and ELN’s 5,000 compelled Pastrana not to run for re-election, opening the door for the electoral victory of Alvaro Uribe.

POLITICS

Alvaro Uribe rose to power August 7, 2002. Two and a half years after his electoral victory – he based his campaign on a plan of open war on the guerrillas – the armed conflict between the government and the rebel forces continues to take lives. And the attacks continue. Soon after the elections, Uribe cut off formal talks and intensified the military campaign against the Marxist guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia People’s Army (FARC). He also imposed a war tax and extended military service (55,000 more between the military and police), bringing defense to the top of the national budget (3.5 million Euros). Moreover, Uribe received significant funds from the U.S. government under the pretext of the war on drugs (80% of the U.S. market is flooded by drugs originating in Colombia), getting logistical and technological support, and the help of thousands of marines.

The ties between the Uribe government and George Bush’s White House were further reinforced following an attack that destroyed the principal Colombian oil pipeline (owned by Occidental Petroleum of the U.S.) and the shooting-down of an American Cessna airplane carrying 3 CIA agents among its 5 passengers. The agents were sent by Washington to support the government against the guerrillas, and survived the accident to be taken hostage by the FARC. After September 11, the Colombian guerrillas were added to the international terrorist lists and became a target in the American war against terrorism.

The civil war also continues. Extended “Special Zones of Rehabilitation and Consolidation,” for the most part in the departments of Arauca, Bolívar, e Sucre, are under military control, and the network of anti-guerrilla information, that is to say trained and compensated civilians supplying information to the military and paramilitary, has grown to great proportions – now including almost 2 million people. The operations against the FARC and ELN continue to claim civilian victims by the hundreds. As a result, guerrilla action, dynamite attacks, and robberies have increased. Presently about 1,600 people are hostages of the FARC. The AUC has continued its operations directed against the indigenous peoples, who are killed or forced to flee from their land, one way to better exploit the best of their territories, usually rich in biodiversity and natural resources.

The demobilization of the paramilitaries is in full progress. The Uribe government has decided to reincorporate former AUC members who choose to leave that illegal organization, absorbing them into the regular army.

SOCIETY

Colombian society is very stratified. 47% is mestizo (one white parent and the other indigenous Indian), 20% white, another 20% “mulatto” (one black and one white parent), 6% black, 3% “zambos” (one black parent and the other indigenous Indian), and 1% indigenous Indian. The official language is Spanish, but the indigenous Indians of the high plain speak Chibcha, while those of the forest speak Amazonian dialects.

Education is free and obligatory from ages 5 to 10. Secondary school lasts from 4 to 6 years. The illiteracy rate is 7.9%.

The Social Security system is financed by the government, employers, and employees. Large enterprises supply insurance programs for their dependents, but the State cost for Social Security is 12.4% of the total costs. The State spends 5.5% of the GNP on health care. The poverty index equals 8.2%.

ECONOMY

The increase in exports has relaunched economic growth, even if unemployment remains high and poverty is widespread. Last year, support from the International Monetary Fund allowed the government to avoid a serious crisis and the economy has shown signs of recovery. Growth in 2002 was marked by a 1.6% increase, essentially led by domestic demand, and inflation remained under control. Nevertheless, the situation is delicate. Colombia suffers from a weak private sector, with an unemployment rate of 16% and much underemployment. The “orthodox” reforms of the Uribe government risk hindering this recovery. Therefore, one of the priorities needs to be to strengthen the Customs Union within the Andean Community, as an intermediate step in negotiations for their entrance into the Free Trade Area of the Americas. The support of the United States, both economic and in the fight against drugs, will be fundamental.

MASS MEDIA

Newspapers in Colombia are in the hands of the pro-government oligarchy. The guerrillas use alternative methods to spread their own press releases and their versions of the facts. Even civilian communities, that look to remain outside of the warring parties, have chosen internet sites to as a means for spreading their own truths.

Translated by Theresa Strazisar

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