Currenlty In Colombia

Colombia has been a very unstable country for the past fifty years. Beginning in the

From the perspective of Colombia, the Colombian government was desperate for foreign aid and international support. Accordingly, the leadership of Colombia was more than eager to permit the United States to become closely involved in the development of a Colombian public policy initiative, even if they risked losing other potential supporters and garnering international criticism (Carpenter, 2003). Also, the peoples of Colombia themselves were favoring a movement for change after more than

Currently, the president of Colombia is Juan Manuel Santos and the vice president is German Vargas LLeras. Throughout the 20th century, Colombia has had conflicts between paramilitary groups such as Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (F.A.R.C). According to Frank Safford, Colombia has suffered since the emerged of the paramilitary groups. These groups transport illegal drugs within the country and kidnap and extort to stay financially stable. Therefore, these actions encourage intensive violence in society and led the unrest of the country. The politics in Colombia have not been very pleased for the citizens, but every year quieter. Juan Manuel Santos is making programs to reach peace; however the results have not been submitted

Colombia was one of the three unique nations alongside Ecuador and Venezuela that rose up out of the breakdown of Gran Colombia in 1830. In the course of the most recent 40 years, there has been a battle to oust the legislature somewhat in light of the drug exchanges all through Colombia. The development does however need backing from military and backing from the essential impacts. Lately there have been difficulties for control of the regions all through Colombia furthermore for the drug exchange. The Spanish was landed with an expect to assume control and colonization and conveyed slaves alongside them from Africa. In view of these reasons Colombia is perceived as expanded ethnics and social nation where every locale

Historically, Colombia has opposed the ELN and their attempts at gaining power within the country. However, there has been corruption by government and military officials. The corruption comes in the way of support for the ELN (Stanford, 2012). Regardless of the corruption, the Colombian government is currently making strides to begin peace talks with the ELN in 2014; however, no specific dates have been established. (Insight crime, n.d.).

During this time, the illegal drug trade in Colombia grew immensely with an emphasis on cocaine trafficking. The most notable drug trafficking organizations, the Medellin Cartel and the Cali Cartel, grew until they had enough money and military power to have a strong influence on politics in Colombia. Newfound political sway on behalf of the cartels contributed to a notoriously corrupt Colombian government. Violence in the country increased as opposing drug cartels engaged in intergroup fighting that would eventually lead to the collapse of both the Cali and the Medellin

Drug Trafficking, civil unrest, and kidnapping are commonly associated with Colombia. However, a closer look at the South American Country, which is slightly less than two times the size of Texas, reveals not only a very rich culture that centers on fine arts and language preservation, but also a country that strives for economic progress and effective government. All of which is typically overshadowed by the notorious guerilla warfare and drug cartels.

1.1. The United States (US) must continue to expand collaboration efforts across the Americas to support democratic consolidation, deter drug trafficking, counter insurgency and counter organized crime (NSS, 2015). As the current political crisis between the Inspector General and the Bogota Mayor unwinds, it is highly likely that all of these efforts will come into play to keep Colombia on a path toward peace and stability. As such, we must support the resolution of longstanding regional conflicts, particularly Columbia’s peace discussions with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC (NSS, 2015). The FARC has been many things over the years and has evolved into a drug trafficking insurgency. Although the FARC is far from Colombia’s domestic only problem, their assimilation into society or elimination all together will allow the country to continue to strengthen as a democracy. The US is obligated to conduct Stability and Counterinsurgency Operations and conduct limited stability operations when required, working with interagency, coalition, and host-nation forces in a whole of government approach to assist Colombia in the current situation (NSS, 2015). Such efforts emphasize unique elements of American DoS and DoD forces: civil- military affairs teams, building partner capacity, information support teams, and cultural outreach programs.

Colombia has been the setting for the longest-running civil war in Latin America. The conflict in this country takes place between the government and the two leftist guerilla groups, as well as the conflict between the guerrilla groups and the paramilitary forces. As in most wars, the most affected in this conflict are unarmed civilians.

Colombia is a Latin American country located in South America that has been ravaged by violence, starvation, and large-scale inequality between higher and lower classes. The chaos in Colombia has been between rebel forces and the government and has lasted for over fifty years. These rebel forces have fought to achieve their Liberalist lead goals of overthrowing the current democratic government of Colombia and replacing it with a communist government. La Violencia was the main contributor to the conflict between the resistance fighters of Colombia and the Colombian government that has brought on violence and terror from the violent actions between the Liberal and Conservative parties in the 1950’s. , which has directly brought on the violence and terror from the guerrilla groups.

Throughout Colombia’s history there has been two very violent groups of people who do not like each other. This caused the War of Thousand Days and The Violence,

Violence seems to be a nationwide phenomenon. Almost all aspects of the Colombian population experience some degree of violence. Almost everybody is a potential victim; violence does not prefer a particular socioeconomic class, profession, race, or

Colombia and the United States established their diplomatic relationship in 1822. This followed Colombia’s independence from Spain. Colombia is known as a middle-income country and one of the oldest democracies established in Latin America. Colombia has dealt more than 50 years of conflict with illegal rebellious groups, including Marxist guerillas and international criminal organizations involved in illegal drug trafficking. Colombia’s government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) reported they had reached a final peace accord on August 24, 2016 after four years of deliberations. Long-term U.S. interests in Colombia include promoting security, prosperity and good governance.

There is a civil war currently being fought in Columbia, but it is nothing new to the residents of the country. Conflicts have been on going for over 100 years, in the beginning dealing with the ideological differences of the conservative and liberal parties. In 1928 an unsuccessful coup was attempted to take over the government (which was controlled by liberals), and the ensuing civil wars killed over 20,000 people. In the 1950's coffee prices fell as unemployment rose, and guerrilla groups prompted a communist revolution. The current civil war had its direct beginnings in 1964, with the foundation of ELN (by students influenced by Castro) and more importantly FARC (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia; based on Marxist

On October 2nd, 2016 the citizens of Colombia rejected the peace deal between the Colombian government and FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia). The deal would have ended the half-century civil war. The rejection of the peace accord was shocking to many because it was projected to win by a large majority. “Surveys had predicted an easy win for the yes vote by a margin of 2 to 1” (Miroff). Instead of the projected approval it was rejected by a “narrow 50.2% to 49.8% margin” (Schaefer M.). The deal would have also given amnesty to certain FARC members who admitted their crimes and cooperated with the government. This could be said to be one of the major reasons why the peace accord was rejected by the Colombian citizens. President Santos and the FARC leader, Rodrigo Londono will continue peace talks to come