US and Colombia

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Seema Mishra

India

June 27 , 2008

US and Columbia

With the history of unrest and contradiction , social and political crisis , it is not easy to

understand the situation in Columbia . There has been deterioration in the internal socio

political conflict in Columbia . Growth in paramilitary violence and the rise of the

rebellions have resulted in more than 2 million refugees and worsening the human rights

record . All the movements of US and Columbian officials in to restrain illegal crop

cultivation , has lead

to even more poverty in Columbia since 1930s . If there has been

success in one area to stop illegal farming there are news from other parts that it is full

fledged going on . It is continuously going on in Columbia whether it is `drug trafficking

or war against `terrorism ' and the benefits goes to the policymakers whereas the

Columbians have to suffer at every level

The FARC or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia came into force on July 20

1964 and was the first group that emerged on national level and responded on official

violence and militarist aggression . They issued their political military declaration through

a conference that stated

We are revolutionaries struggling for a change in regime . But we always wanted and

struggled for this change for our people using the least painful means through peaceful

means , through democratic struggle of the masses , through the legal mechanism spelled

out in the Columbian Constitution . This path was closed to us violently and since we are Mishra 2

revolutionaries that in one way or another are going to play the historic role that

corresponds to us , we have been forced to find another way : the path of armed revolution

for the struggle for power

The peasant founders of FARC were aware that they were confronting a very powerful

enemy and thus tried to make their group all the more powerful . Other guerrilla groups

also emerged during this period and their support was mainly from the dissatisfied

middle-class youth . Gradually the United States agreed that FARC had no connection

with `drug trafficking ' and it actually taxed mid and large scale farmers

Since 1990s there has been a consequent increase in politically motivated deaths in

Columbia and this has been so because of the US military training in Columbia

Columbia is well known for ignoring constitution and law and this is because of the lack

of bureaucratic capacity to act accordingly in that part of the state It is stated that all the

political armies in Columbia are free from any punishment . These crimes even include

assassinations , extrajudicial jurisdiction and even tortures . This contradicts the statement

that Columbia was only ruled by the military from 1953 to 1957 , because even today

media talks about Columbian democracy and political reform in Columbia The open-

elections and the campaigning process styled like US and the constant discussions going

on in Parliament shows that democracy can work in Columbia but with more support

from outside

The society seems to be...