https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6865-6562
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ABSTRACT
Despite the promise of the 2016 Colombian peace agreement, this paper argues that the intersection of poverty, insecurity and exclusion threatens sustainable peace in Colombia. In asserting this argument, the paper advances two case studies: the false positives scandal, which demonstrates the vulnerability of the poor to various security threats, and the coca eradication programme, which has fuelled further violence and economic insecurity on impoverished rural people. This paper uses these cases to highlight how poverty is used to legitimise, and is intertwined with, structural and physical violence in Colombia. These cases further shed light on the political economy of violence in Colombia, which legitimises the unequal distribution of wealth, exposes the poor to violence, and disguises crimes of the powerful through the narrative of the deviant or underserving poor and the rhetoric of maintaining security or advancing development. Fundamentally, this article posits that although the post-conflict moment presents a profound opportunity for transformational change, continued socio-economic inequalities and violence against the poor in Colombia will affect the ability to create a sustainable and meaningful peace.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank everyone who generously gave their time to be interviewed as well as the anonymous reviewers whose comments have been very helpful in developing this paper. Eleanor Gordon would like to thank Monash University for supporting this research through the Advancing Women’s Research Success (AWRS) grant, as well as the Research Councils UK (RCUK) and the Government of Colombia for inviting her to for a Newton Caldas Fund scoping workshop on post-conflict development in Colombia in 2016, which was the catalyst for this research.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
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2. Phelan, ‘Engaging insurgency’, 836.
3. Defensoría del Pueblo, En más de dos años; Fundación Paz y Reconciliación (PARES), Informe De La Iniciativa Unión.
4. International Commission of Jurists, ‘Colombia: The Special Jurisdiction for Peace’, 86–87.
5. LeGrand, van Isschot and Riaño-Alcalá, ‘Land, justice, and memory’, 260; Thomson, ‘The agrarian question and violence in Colombia’; Zamosc, ‘The Agrarian Question and the Peasant Movement’; Brittain, Revolutionary social change in Colombia, 8–20.
6. Gordon, ‘Crimes of the Powerful’, 145.
7. Le Billon, Roa-García, and López-Granada, ‘Territorial peace and gold mining in Colombia’.
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11. Gunewardena, ‘Pathologizing Poverty’.
12. Wacquant, Punishing the Poor, 58–69; Box, Power, Crime and Mystification, 13.
13. Sumner, Crime, Justice and Underdevelopment.
14. Gordon, ‘Crimes of the Powerful in Conflict-Affected Environments’, 147.
15. Bauman, Modernity and Ambivalence.
16. Sayer, The Moral Significance of Class, 59.
17. Bauman, Modernity and Ambivalence; De Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 62; Said, Orientalism, 236–239.
18. Chandler, Peacebuilding: The Twenty Years’ Crisis, 31.
19. Lorenzo-Dus and Marsh, ‘Bridging the gap’.
20. Cortes-Nieto and Ansari, Securitising Street Populations’; Gordon, ‘Crimes of the Powerful’.
21. Scheper-Hughes, Death without Weeping; Bourgois, ‘The Power of Violence’.
22. Foucault, Society must be defended, 245.
23. Foucault, Security, Territory, Population, 20–21; Foucault, The birth of biopolitics, 226, 270–271.
24. Lemke, ‘The birth of bio-politics’, 201–202.
25. Cortes-Nieto and Ansari, Securitising Street Populations’, 36.
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27. Sykes and Matza, ‘Techniques of Neutralization’.
28. Cohen, States of Denial, 96–97.
29. Rochlin, ‘The political economy of impunity’, 193.
30. Krumer-Nevo and Benjamin, ‘Critical Poverty Knowledge’, 696.
31. HRW, Generation Under Fire; Zwehl, ‘Flyer warns of imminent “social cleansing” in Bogota’.
32. Cortes-Nieto and Ansari, ‘Securitising Street Populations’; Graham, ‘Colombia’s “social cleansing” phenomenon’.
33. Guerrero and Fandiño-Losada, ‘Is Colombia a Violent Country?’.
34. Ordoñez, No Human Being is Disposable.
35. Gordon, ‘Crimes of the Powerful’; Graham, ‘Colombia’s “social cleansing” phenomenon’; HRW, Generation Under Fire; Monsalve, ‘La otra Colombia salvaje; Ordoñez, No Human Being is Disposable; Schwartz, ‘Getting Away with Murder’.
36. Duncan, Más que plata o plomo.
37. Duncan, Exclusion, insurreccion y crimen; Rochlin, ‘The political economy of impunity’.
38. Justino. ‘Poverty and Violent Conflict’.
39. Vargas and Restrepo-Jaramillo, ‘Child Soldiering in Colombia.
40. Loaiza, Muñetón and Vanegas, ‘The relationship between multidimensional poverty and armed conflict’.
41. Duncan, Exclusion, insurreccion y crimen.
42. See Eventon, ‘The War on Colombia’s Poor’.
43. Chagas-Bastos, ‘Colombia’s peace in tatter’s’, 129–130; Berry, ‘Reflections on injustice’, 280.
44. Maher, Civil War and Uncivil Development; World Bank, Gini Index.
45. Guereña, A Snapshot of Inequality, 8.
46. See Bourgois, ‘The Power of Violence’.
47. Maldonado, ‘Early lessons from the Colombian peace process’.
48. Jackson, The Politics of Storytelling; Rojas-Páez, ‘Narratives from the Margins of the State’.
49. Rojas-Páez, ‘Narratives from the Margins of the State’.
50. Buzan, Wæver and de Wilde, A New Framework for Analysis; Bigo, ‘Rethinking Security’.
51. Krumer-Nevo and Benjamin, ‘Critical Poverty Knowledge’.
52. Gordon, ‘Crimes of the Powerful’.
53. UN, ‘Statement by Philip Alston’, n.p.
54. ICC, Situation in Colombia.
55. FIDH, Colombia: The war measured; HRW, On Their Watch; ICC, Situation in Colombia; UNOHCHR, ‘Report of the Office’.
56. UNOHCHR, ‘Report of the Office’; UN, ‘Statement by Philip Alston’.
57. HRW, On Their Watch; UNOHCHR, ‘Report of the Office’.
58. Interviews with civil society actors, 2016, Volkmann, ‘Evaluating the Impact of Human Rights Work’.
59. HRW, On Their Watch; Acemoglu, Fergusson, Robinson et. al., ‘The Perils of Top-Down State Building’; UNOHCHR, Report of the UN High Commissioner’; Wood, ‘Understanding Colombia’s False Positives’; interviews with civil society actors, 2016.
60. Acemoglu, Fergusson, Robinson et. al., ‘The Perils of Top-Down’; Alsema, ‘False Positives’.
61. UN, ‘Statement by Philip Alston’.
62. UNOHCHR, ‘Report of the Office’; Volkmann, ‘Evaluating the Impact’; interviews with civil society actors, 2016.
63. Alsema, ‘False Positives’.
64. Volkmann, ‘Evaluating the Impact, 402.
65. Cited in Vivanco and Schoening, ‘Colombia’s Compromise with Murder’, n.p.
66. See also Alsema, ‘As homicides double’.
67. Interview with grassroots peace activist, 2018.
68. HRW, On Their Watch, 1
69. ICC, Situation in Colombia, 35.
70. FIDH, ‘Colombia: First General to be detained’; Volkmann, ‘Evaluating the Impact’.
71. Volkmann, ‘Evaluating the Impact’.
72. Gordon, ‘Crimes of the Powerful’.
73. ICC, Situation in Colombia, 3.
74. FIDH, Colombia: The war measured; HRW, ‘Colombia: Disqualify Criminal Suspects’ and ‘Colombia: Don’t Promote Officers’.
75. FIDH, Colombia: The war measured; HRW, On Their Watch; Noriega, ‘Colombia false positive scandal’; Vivanco and Schoening, ‘Colombia’s Compromise with Murder’; interview with grassroots peace activist, 2017.
76. Murphy and Vargas, ‘Colombian Duque’s bid’; Noriega, ‘“A mockery of us”’
77. Bolaños and Benavides, Ejecuciones extrajudiciales en Colombia; FIDH, ‘Colombia: First General to be detained’; Gill, ‘Why Colombia’s former army’; HRW, World Report 2019.
78. Lyons and Reed-Hurtado, ‘Colombia: Impact of the Rome Statute’; UNOHCHR, ‘Report of the UN High Commissioner’.
79. Interviews with civil society actors 2016, FIDH, Colombia: The war measured; UN, ‘Statement by Philip Alston’.
80. Interviews with civil society actors, 2016.
81. FIDH, Colombia: The war measured; HRW, On Their Watch.
82. Noriega, ‘A mockery of us’.
83. HRW, World Report 2020, 145; US State Department, Colombia 2019 Human Rights Report, 3.
84. Casey, ‘Colombia Army’s New Kill Orders’.
85. Casey, ‘Colombia Will Review Military Orders’.
86. HRW, World Report 2020, 145; US State Department, Colombia 2019 Human Rights Report, 3.
87. Pappier, ‘The “Command Responsibility” Controversy in Colombia’; Wilkinson, ‘How Santos tarnished his Peace Prize’.
88. Amnesty International, Colombia’s social leaders are still being killed during quarantine; Gamba, ‘Colombia: Colonel fearful’.
89. HRW, World Report 2020, 145; US State Department, Colombia 2019 Human Rights Report, 3.
90. UNODC, Colombia: Survey of Territories Affected by Illegal Crops 2018, 88.
91. Cruz and Chaparro, Coca instituciones y desarrollo.
92. LeGrand, van Isschot and Riaño-Alcalá, ‘Land, justice, and memory’, 261.
93. Rettberg, ‘Peace-making amidst’, 90.
94. Fundación Ideas Para La Paz, Progress Report; LeGrand, van Isschot and Riaño-Alcalá, ‘Land, justice, and memory’, 261.
95. UNODC, Colombia: Survey of Territories 2018.
96. Drug Enforcement Administration, 2019 National Drug Threat, 69.
97. The Economist, ‘Colombia’s two anti-coca’.
98. Fundación Ideas Para La Paz, ¿En qué va la sustitución.
99. Grisaffi and Ledebur, ‘Citizenship or Repression?’.
100. Dion and Russler, Erradication Efforts’; Grisaffi and Ledebur, ‘Citizenship or Repression?’.
101. Ballesteros, ‘Military massacre in southwest Colombia?’; HRW, World Report 2019.
102. Interview with social leader in Tumaco, 2017.
103. See, for example, UNODC, Colombia: Survey of Territories 2018, 87–92; UNODC, Colombia: Survey of Territories 2016.
104. Puerta and Chaparro, ‘A Death Foretold’.
105. Fundación Ideas Para La Paz, Progress Report.
106. Interview with activist and researcher, 2017.
107. Fundación Ideas Para La Paz, Progress Report.
108. Interview with a community leader, displaced from Tumaco, 2017.
109. Ibid.
110. Fundación Ideas Para La Paz, ¿En qué va la sustitución.
111. Ibid.
112. Ioris and Ioris, ‘Colombia’s fractured history’, 81.
113. Humphrey, ‘The political lives’, 466.
114. Maher, Civil War and Uncivil Development, 186–191; Maher and Thomson, ‘A precarious peace?’, 2155.
115. Humphrey, ‘The political lives’, 466.
116. Guereña, A Snapshot of Inequality, 13.
117. Nicholls and Sánchez-Garzoli, ‘Buenaventura, Colombia’.
118. Interview with civil society actor, 2017.
119. Guereña, A Snapshot of Inequality; Sánchez and Mazanett, ‘Desarrollo y desplazamiento rural en Colombia’.
120. LeGrand, van Isschot and Riaño-Alcalá, ‘Land, justice, and memory’, 261.
121. Ibid., 268.
122. Ramiírez, Between the Guerrillas and the State.
123. Front Line Defenders, Annual Report 2017.
124. Interviews with civil society actors, 2016 and 2017; Front Line Defenders, Annual Report 2017, Defensoría del Pueblo, En más de dos años; PARES, Informe De La Iniciativa Unión.
125. LeGrand, van Isschot and Riaño-Alcalá, ‘Land, justice, and memory’.
126. Brunori, No son números’.
127. Rochlin, ‘The political economy of impunity’.
128. LeGrand, van Isschot and Riaño-Alcalá, ‘Land, justice, and memory’.
129. Elhawary, ‘Violent Paths to peace?’; Escobar, ‘Displacement, development, and modernity’ and Encountering Development; LeGrand, van Isschot and Riaño-Alcalá, ‘Land, justice, and memory’; Maher, Civil War and Uncivil Development.
130. Rojas-Páez, ‘Understanding Environmental Harm and Justice Claims’.
131. Escobar, ‘Displacement, development, and modernity’ and Encountering Development; Maher, Civil War and Uncivil Development.
132. Elhawary, ‘Violent Paths to peace?’; Escobar, Encountering Development; Gutiérrez‐Sanín and Vargas, ‘Agrarian elite participation’; Maher, Civil War and Uncivil Development.
133. Interviews with civil society actors, 2016 and 2017.
134. See Box Power, Crime and Mystification.
135. Murphy and Vargas, ‘Colombian Duque’s bid’.
136. Simon, Governing Through Crime.
137. Becker, Outsiders
138. Bauman, Modernity and Ambivalence; Chomsky, World Orders Old and New.
139. See Gordon, ‘Crimes of the Powerful in Conflict-Affected Environments’.
140. Interview with civil society actor, 2017.
141. Interview with civil society actor, 2017.
142. Interview with journalist and researcher, 2017.
143. Interview with journalist and researcher, 2017.
144. Interview with grassroots peace activist, 2017. See also Berry, ‘Reflections on injustice’; Guereña, A Snapshot of Inequality; Karl, ‘Century of the exile’; LeGrand, van Isschot and Riaño-Alcalá, ‘Land, justice, and memory’.
145. See Gordon, ‘Crimes of the Powerful’.
146. Interviews with civil society actors, 2017.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Eleanor Gordon
Dr Eleanor Gordon is a Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Development at Monash University and has worked for 20 years in the field of conflict, security and justice, including more than 10 years with the UN and other international organisations in conflict-affected environments. Her research and practice focus on inclusive ways in which to build security and justice after conflict.
• University Webpage: https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/eleanor-gordon
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=DGrYgaRsPYMC
Academia.edu: https://monash.academia.edu/EleanorGordon
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eleanor-gordon-97364266/
Twitter: @elegordon
Sebastian Restrepo Henao
Sebastian Restrepo Henao is the Executive Director of Vision Suroeste (Southwest Vision), a sustainability and transitions platform in rural Colombia. He has worked for 6 years with local and state government in Medellín and Antioquia, Colombia, in the development and security sectors, and is a former Teaching Associate at Monash University. He has also been involved in various peacebuilding and human rights civil society organisations in Colombia.
Academia.edu: https://monash.academia.edu/Sebasti%C3%A1nHenao
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebasti%C3%A1n-restrepo-henao-1269661a/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ecosebas
Alejandra Zuluaga Duque
Alejandra Zuluaga Duque is a former Fellow of the RMIT-CISCO Lab in Australia, where she developed research on the social consequences of artificial intelligence in the welfare system. She holds a Bachelor’s in Political Science from EAFIT University and a Master's in International Development Practice from Monash University. Her main research interests include drug policy, conflict and security.
Academia.edu: https://independent.academia.edu/AlejandraZuluaga
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alejandra-zuluaga-b06236a9/
Elliot Dolan-Evans
Elliot Dolan-Evans is a PhD graduate specialising in political economy, a non-practicing medical doctor, and a community lawyer. His research focuses on the impact of deepening capitalist transformation following, and during, violent conflict, as well as broader questions of critical political economy in modern capitalism.
Researchgate.net: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Elliot_Dolan-Evans