Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

trafficking, FARC is known for using violence for the mere purpose of making local inhabitants fear them.
In one case cited by The Economist, Wilson Vega, a farmer from a small village in rural Colombia, tells how
FARC called a town meeting, just to shoot five people they claimed to have “collaborated” with the army
and government-supporting paramilitaries.
In Colombia’s war against its rebels, Uribe has made great strides to eradicate all non-army militia
groups. Since coming into office, using American aid and a new tax on wealth, he has made Colombia less
violent by increasing security forces by half. With the decrease in violence, economic growth has
flourished. In the same article by The Economist, charts show that since 2002 (the year Uribe was elected) as
murders per one hundred thousand dropped from around sixty-five to below forty in 2007, Colombian
Gross Domestic Product has increased significantly each year during that same period.
While this is good news, the fact remains that FARC, despite its numbers dwindling comparably, is
still in Colombia and still using violence against the state and those that support it. Urban violence and the
murder rate in Colombia’s second largest city went up in 2009, possibly caused by FARC, and also claims
that FARC has regrouped and using snipers and landmines against the military. The FARC issue, despite
their “love” of violence, is not only being looked at with a perspective that military is the only option.
Uribe, whose father was murdered by FARC operatives during the 1970’s, continually states that he would
offer FARC peace talks, if they would lay down their weapons first.
When it comes to the task of disarming militia groups in Colombia paramilitary groups must also be
considered. These groups, a relic of the proxy conflicts of the Cold War, have since the fall of the Soviet
Union been fighting FARC and anything that would threaten the current Colombian system. However,
their activities in battling FARC go outside the bounds of Colombian law, as they use violence and murder
to achieve their aims. Also, there are claims that some of these paramilitaries have committed human rights
violations, massacres, the forced displacement of people, and causing the disappearances of many.
61