The paramilitary phenomenon in Colombia

Abstract

We are witnessing in Colombia the second great crisis of the paramilitaries. This does not mean that this phenomenon, which arose in the 1970s, is dying out. There could be a new clean-out, just as there was in the last decade. But this crisis is much more profound, because the United States has disqualified them, considering them to be drug-dealers and terrorists. The present negotiations of President Uribe with them could dis-activate this factor of violence or help to generate a third generation of paramilitaries. The latter solution is the more probable.