Politics & Violence in Colombia
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The principal reason for Violence in Colombia's publication appears to have been to explain how the widely reported incidents of violence in Colombia in the modern period evolved from the realities of the political and social scene of the country over a period of decades dating from the time of independence from Spain in 1819. Indeed, to understand the phenomenon of violence in modern Colombia, it is important to recognize the background of political evolution in Latin America more generally, as well as the often complicated political history of the country itself. The essays in Violence in Colombia discuss how the political past of the country impinges on and in part determines the environment of its political present and the elements that make up its social and political structure on one hand and the overlay of violence on that structure on the other.The mere chronology of Colombia's political history is an essay in violence. The revolutionary turmoil that swept through South America early in the nineteenth century stripped Spain of her mainland American colonies and created a number of new independent states. After 300 years of domination by the Spanish monarchy, the new nations were free to form their laws in accordance with their own aspirations and political ideals. Colombia was part of the Republic of New Granada, promulgated in 1810; Venezuela and Ecuador split off in 1830, and Panama in 1903 as part of a civil war fostered by U.S. interest in building a canal acros
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en rival elites and the great mass of Colombian citizens. In recent years, indeed, patterns of violence and brutal murders in Colombia have expanded to include increasing numbers of civilians more generally. Equally, elements of all social strata--from the highest elites to the poorest of the poor--appear to have been touched by, if not affiliated with, drug trafficking. For example, right-wing paramilitary groups ostensibly formed to combat a drug-trade culture increasingly affiliated with leftist guerrilla groups but in fact connected to drug-mafia factions of their own, have enlarged their mission to one of social engineering, target such marginal populations as prostitutes, homosexuals, drug addicts, and the poor.
The sheer volume and complexity of political activity in Colombia in recent years cannot be overstressed, although each essayist in Violence in Colombia seeks to make sense of at least part of the complexity. But as Bergquist explains, today's violence in Colombia is not simply a function of the drug trade, though undoubtedly the drug economy has influenced and complicated politics since 1980. The whole range of forces alluded to in the chronology of political events in the country have been brought into the curr
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Approximate Word count = 1854
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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