situation en colombie

Situation of Colombia

GEOGRAPHICAL SITUATION
Capital: Bogota
Surface: 1.138.910 km2
32 Departments and 1 capital area
Borders: Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Venezuela, Panama
Country crossed by the Andes cordillera

POLITICAL SYSTEM
Government: Republic
President: Alvaro Uribe (since May 2002)
Party: Conservatives PSC

POPULATION
Population: 42.100.000 inhabitants
Religion: Catholics (96%)
Language: Spanish
Population: 58-60% Mongrel, 20-25% White, 14-20% Mulattos, 4% Blacks, 1% Amerindians.
Rate demographic growth annual (1975-2000): 2%
Population of less than 15 years (2000): 32,8%
Index of fecondity (1995-2000): 2,8
Urban population (2000): 75%

SOCIAL INDICATORS
Indicator of human development 2002 (UNDP): Ranked 68in 173 classified countries.
(average Human Development)
Population below the poverty line (1987-2000): 17,7%
Population living with less than 1 dollar per day (1983-2000): 19,7%
Life expectancy at birth (2000): 71,2 years
Population suffering from malnutrition (1997-99): 13%
Infant mortality rate for 1000 alive births (2000): 25
Ponderal insufficiency of less than 5 years (1995-2000): 7%
Population without access to an arranged water point (2000): 9%
Literacy of the adults (2000): 91,7%

ECONOMY
Currency: Peso
GDP per capita: 6.248 US $
GNP per capita (2000): 6,248 USS
Public expenditure in education (% PNB)1995-97: 4,1%
Public expenditure in health (% GNP) 1998: 5,2
Principal exports:
1st world soft coffee and emerald exporter
2nd world platinum and soft coffee producer
1st gold producer in Latin America

1819 : Proclamation of independence of a Republic including Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador. Panama joint thereafter
1830 : Ecuador and Venezuela leave the Republic
1903 : Secession of Panama under the impulse of the United States
The Sixties : Appearance of the left wing guerilla movements
1964 : Creation of the FARC (Revolutionary Forces Armed with Colombia)
1965 : Creation of the ELN (Armed with National Release)
1990-1994 : Government Cesar GAVIRIA
July 5, 1991 : Constitution
1994-1998 : Government Ernesto SAMPER
1998-2002 : Government Andres PASTRANA
1999 : Transfer of a ground of 42.000 km2 to the FARC
2000 : Colombia plan of fight against drug
February 2002 : Resumption of the demilitarized zone of the FARC by the government
May 2002 : Government Alvaro URIBE

For the last 20 years Columbia has been verging on the edge of a civil war, with clashes between military troops, guerilla and paramilitary groups and narcotics traffickers. This violence displaces thousands of people from their homes and causes them to live in sub-human conditions in camps or on the outskirts of cities. Currently, half of the population live below the poverty line.

Despite the vast natural richnesses of the country (oil, coal, platinum, gold, emeralds), Colombia’s economy has not shown substantial growth and this causes enormous inequalities in socio-economic conditions.
Notably, 50% of the population live below the poverty line, including 34% in an absolute misery. In contast, 5% of the population, own 80% of the land, the goods and the services.

Between 1970 and 1986, the overall level of poverty decreased, but the situation has not improved at all over recent years.. Specifically, between 1983 and 2000, 19,7% of the population lived on less than one dollar per day, and 36% on less than 2 dollars per day.

It is mostly in the suburbs of the large cities where the inhabitants live under sub -human conditions, without access to public services, sanitation services, or employment. The families often survive by recovering waste which they then resell.
For example, the capital Bogota, where 7 million inhabitants live, is surrounded by a belt of misery of approximately one million people who live under deplorable conditions. Unemployment is also very high: in June 2001, 25% of the working population were unemployed.

It is these precarious living conditions which push the population towards delinquency or armed engagements.

Over the last 20 years, the country has seen consistently increasing incidences and levels of violence against civilians.This includes kidnappings, personal and property attacks, assassinations, death threats… all creating a climate of insecurity that is very difficult for the population to cope with.
Colombia has the sad record of :

• The greatest number of civilian kidnappings per year, with 12.539 incidences reported in 2000.
• Since 1985, the country counts more than 60.000 assassinations.

The groups involved in this country’s clash of violence include : the guerilla groups who appeared in the 1960s ; the paramilitaires that emerged in response to gureilla groups ; the government soldiers ; and the narcotics traffickers / drug cartels.

FARC (Revolutionary Forces Armed with Colombia):
This movement directed by Handbook Marulanda (Alias Tirofijo) and Alfonso Cano was born in 1964 following the repression of a protest of the agricultural day workers. The movement is of rural origin but related to the Colombian Communist Party.
The FARC became the principal movement of the country equipped with the greatest material and economic resources. Their sources of financing come from kidnappings, extortions and association with groups of narcotics traffickers.
The FARC count today more than 20.000 combatants distributed in 31 of the 32 departments of the country.
In the years after 1980, the FARC created a political organization, the Patriotic Union which obtained results without precedent for the left at the time of the elections of 1986. But the established sectors and the Colombian extreme-right-wing did not accept this success and launched an offensive which resulted in more than 3000 members of the Patriotic Union beign assassinated in ten years. Thus, the Patriotic Union disappeared.

ELN (Armed with National Release):
Founded in 1965 by the priest Manual Perez, the movement results from various social classes but relies on important participation from academics and monks.
The movement counts approximately 5.000 combatants and is also financed by the illicit activities and kdinappings which they practise

EPL (Armed Popular with Release):
This movement emerged in 1967, with similarities to the Communist Party of the line China Maoist.
The movement gave up the armed struggle in 1991 and entered the political arena by creating the Party of the Hope, Peace and Freedom (EPL).

Movement of April 19 M-19 :
This movement originated as a reaction to the traditional parties and their oligarchies. The movement was constant in the peripheral districts of the large cities.
In 1990, the movement entered the political arena by creating the Democratic movement Alliance M-19.

In recent years , attempts at negotiation between the government and different guerrilla factions have not been successful.
In 1999, the government of Andres Pastrana decided to give to the FARC a territory of 42.000 km2 (size of Switzerland) to facilitate the conversations of peace. Approximately 5000 members of the guerrilla settled in this demilitarized territory.
But in February 2002, after the failure of peace negotiotions, the government decided to revoke this agreement and take back the area of land.

Paramilitary groupings:
In reaction to the gureilla movements, the landowners have also assembled and financed their own self defence groups..
It is estimated that there are currently more than 10.000 paramilitaries in the country.
The strongest paramilitary group is the Units of Self-defence of Colombia (UAC).

Since the beginning of the conflict, more than 2,5 million people had to leave their places of origin. In 1996, 180.000 were displaced from their homes. More than a million displaced people have gathered in the North West zone of the country.

The first victims are usually the peasants, the natives and the blacks, follwed by the victims of the two armed movements, the guerrillas and the paramilitaries. Often, the peasants are forced to leave their grounds under the threat of death.
For example in Arboletes, 69065 of the 72700 hectares ground belong to five people, because their former owners were forced to give up them.

The people displaced move to the suburbs of the large cities where they live under miserable conditions. Others try to flee towards Ecuador, Venezuela or Panama. Thousands of people are thus cut away from their means of survival, their roots, their culture, and their family structure.

The government does not take the necessary measurements to allow or support the return of displaced families to their villages.

Colombia is the principal producer of cocaine of the world.
The country produces 69% of the substances marketed in the United States.

The profits of the sales of the drug exceed 6 billion USD annually.
Most of the cartels appeared early in 1980. And during the Eighties, the most important cartel the Cartel of Medellin, closely followed by Cartel of Cali. This last Cartel was directed by the Brothers Rodriguez Orejuela following a different strategy from the Cartel of Medellin. They had less direct confrontations with the government and tried to gain the support of the politicians.
In fact, the President of the Republic Ernesto Samper, was accused of financing his presidential campaign with the money from the cartel, but he was finally exonerated by Congress.

The cartels bought millions of hectares of land.. In 1995 they had properties in 409 communes. In 1997, they controlled 4.000.000 hectares, i.e. 10% of the most fertile and productive grounds of the country.