Bogotá/Brussels, 10 May 2007: Following the demobilisation of the paramilitaries, Colombia is threatened by the rise of new illegal armed groups heavily involved in drugs and other illegal activity.
Colombia’s New Armed Groups,* the latest report from the International Crisis Group, analyses the armed groups that are emerging in several parts of Colombia, threatening the success of the government’s demobilisation strategy and the reintegration of some 32,000 paramilitary fighters and their support networks.
Since 2003, President Alvaro Uribe’s administration has worked to remove the right-wing paramilitary United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) from the conflict. There is extensive, disturbing evidence, however, that paramilitary disarmament/demobilisation/reintegration (DDR) is being undermined by new groups that are deeply involved in drug trafficking and other criminal activities. Some even have established drug business ties with the insurgent Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and National Liberation Army (ELN), which continue to fight the government. There is the risk that they also continue links to regional politicians, which could lead to the writing of a new chapter in the “para-politica scandal” that has reached into Colombia’s highest political and security elite and is now being investigated by the independent attorney general and the supreme court.
“While paramilitary demobilisation has altered the landscape of violence in Colombia, conditions are ripe for the continuity or resurgence of armed groups closely associated with organised crime”, says Markus Schultze-Kraft, Crisis Group’s Colombia/Andes Project Director. “The military struggle with the insurgent FARC and ELN is ongoing, and despite all efforts to curb it, drug trafficking continues unabated”.
The government has downplayed the new groups as merely criminal gangs and left law enforcement to deal with them. While a special police plan and search unit have been set up, security forces demonstrate poor cooperation and low commitment when dealing with the new groups. The justice institutions’ on-going investigations into links between paramilitary leaders and Uribe appointees and congressional allies are hamstrung by lack of resources and cooperation. The investigations form a core part of the effort to achieve some accountability for past atrocities and to trace links between the old and new groups. While not yet with the reach and power of the old AUC, the new groups are spreading across the country, with at least 3,000 active members.
Sustaining security in the regions where the new groups are emerging will require the government to design and implement an integrated strategy to confront the emerging groups, including solid intelligence, more effective law enforcement and military cooperation, as well as making reintegration of former combatants work and implementing a national rural infrastructure program. “It’s too early to tell whether Colombia is witnessing the failure of AUC demobilisation and reintegration and the resurgence of paramilitaries under another guise, or whether it’s experiencing a reshaping of the criminal world”, says Alain Délétroz, Crisis Group’s Latin America Program Director. “Both scenarios should worry anyone interested in bringing an end to decades of violence in Colombia”.
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Contacts: Andrew Stroehlein (Brussels) 32 (0) 2 541 1635
Kimberly Abbott (Washington) 1 202 785 1601
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*Read the full Crisis Group report on our website: http://www.crisisgroup.org
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The International Crisis Group (Crisis Group) is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organisation covering over 50 crisis-affected countries and territories across four continents, working through field-based analysis and high-level advocacy to prevent and resolve deadly conflict.