The Colombian Paradox: - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

The Colombian Paradox:Pacts, Violence, and Political Stability

Max Cameron

Poli

332Slide2

StructureBogota a vice-royalty of New Granada

Majority mestizo and indigenous population

S

trong

localism,

regionalism (“

patrias

chicas

”)

Estates and plantations:

coffee,

bananas, livestockSlide3

Historical Periods

Independence to War of a Thousand Days (1819-1902)

Conservative oligarchy (1903-1945)

Failed populism, and violence (

1946-1958)

National Front (1958-1978)

Breakdown of the National Front and Constitutional Reform (1978-1991)

Current Era (1991-

). No left turnSlide4

Modal Patterns I, Pact Variation

Long

period of

Anarchy

Conservative

oligarchy

(1903-35)

Agro-

ex

economy

ISI & Incorp.

Neoliberalism

Left turns

19

th C to 1930

1930-1960

1960-1980

Exhaustion of ISI

1980-2000

2000-

Pattern I

Failed populism,

v

iolence &

National FrontPact (1958-1978) - FARC

Breakdown and

constitutional reform (1991)

Peace Accord?Slide5

1. Independence (1819-1902)

Independence declared in 1810, not completed until 1819 when Spanish defeated by Boliva

r.

Former viceroyalty of Gran Colombia united under one constitution.Slide6

Social Structure

The majority of the population was indigenous and mestizo with a small creole dominant class.

N

ational

territory was broken and there was not yet real systems of communication and transportation

.

Exports:

gold

, cacao

, and especially coffee & tobacco. Agriculture was

backbone of economy: esp. potatoes, corn and wheat. The best lands in large estates

(often producing livestock) beside small peasant plots.Large estates used sharecroppers and renters, day

laborers. There were many abuses, including forms of debt

peonage, but slavery was almost nonexistent, and overt coercion of rural labor was not typical. Landowners were the law.Slide7

Failure of Gran Colombia

The failure of Gran Colombia revealed a commitment on the part of the Colombia elite to civilian rule that was to limit military dictatorship to only one in the nineteenth century and one in the twentieth century, in contrast to other countries in Latin America.

T

he

military establishment that brought independence was not Colombian but mostly Venezuelan.

The

civilian elite in Colombia, unlike that in other countries, had not been destroyed by the wars of

independence

The military men who brought independence were not only Venezuelan but often men of color and therefore unacceptable to the white “gente decente” of Bogota. (Mark

Ruhl)Slide8

Clientelistic Parties

High level of fragmentation,

violence:

Politics was

personalistic

and volatile. Dominated by strong personalities and individual

leaders more than ideology.

Liberals and Conservative Parties fought over

The role of the Church, religion Free trade, commercePower of rural landlordsFederalism

Views of BolivarWar of the “Supremes” (1838-1842) or regional caudillosSlide9

Mid-Century

By mid-19

th

Century, rise of merchants and artisans began to change the class structure

Rising merchant class bolsters Liberals

1851 emancipation of small slave population (20k). Caused revolt of conservative landlords in some regions

Liberal and Conservative parties become more organized. A key cleavage: clerical/non-clerical

Parties multiclass and nation-wide

Continuing conflict at the local level through this period. Politics remains chaotic: between 1863-1885 there were more than 50 insurrections Slide10

Liberal revolt to unseat Conservative

government, spread

to other departments.

15,000

government troops defeated

14,000 rebels

at cost of

100.000 deaths, many injuries, economy and communications disrupted.Partisan politicization of campesinos. Class cleavage emerges

Yet both parties preferred democracy over military rule. A strong military could be used by one party against the other. For same reason, parties preferred a weak state.

War of A Thousand Days (1899-1902) Slide11

Panama Canal

The Colombian state refused to ratify a treaty with the US for the construction of a canal in the department of Panama.

Roosvelt

encouraged a rebellion and prevented Colombian troops for reaching Colon.

U

SA

recognized the new Republic of Panama and signed a treaty for the canal. The following years Colombia became increasingly dependent on the

US (which provided compensation & loans for canal)The United Fruit Company set up “banana enclaves. Colombian troops suppress unions.Slide12

2. Consolidation of Conservative Oligarchy (1903-1945)

Change in party

hegemony. Increasing repression in banana plantations

Growing popular

discontent

Emergence of the “

social

question,” gradual recognition of union rights, voting rights, spending on education increases

Development of a “spoils system”Slide13

3. Failed Populist Irruption

Election of

1946 the liberals had two

candidates: a moderate (Gabriel

Turay

) and a radical Jorge

Eliecer

Gaitan, lower middle class, mestizo.Gaitan was a populist who made the distinction between the “pais politico” (political elite) and the “pais nacional

” (the real country). He made the term oligarchy a household word in Colombia. Oligarchs were in both parties, they compete for the spoil system ignoring the needs of the people. Half Colombians were illiterate, 3% of landowners owned half of the land.

Gaitan introduced two reformist issues in the agenda:Economic redistributionPolitical participation. Assassinated in 1948: popular protest at the national level El bogotazo

, and thus began the period known as La Violencia

– the violence.Slide14

La Violencia (1946-1958)

Urban riots spread to the

countryside – continued for 20 years

Much

of the conflict was over land, with peasants linked to the parties seizing each

other’s land. The semiliterate peasantry had almost no notion of what was actually happening at the national level.

The most important cause was the inherited partisan rivalry. However the intensity of the violence would have been unthinkable if the level of rural social and economic development had been higher.

Difference with 19

th century civil wars: violence was incited by political leaders and landowners who did not participate in the conflict. Campesino violence against landowners was not frequent.

100,000-200,000 deathsWeakness of military meant little law enforcement in many areasUpper class groups remained safe in the cities. Slide15

Rojas Dictatorship (1953-1958) “The failure of military populism”

“Estado Cristiano y

Boliviariano

”

Heavy handed, attached press, silenced dissent

Failed to stop violence. Offered amnesty but hard core of guerrillas refused. Formation of self-defense forces

Violence normalized, some participants become more class-oriented, revolutionary

During

La Violencia, economy continued to grow, mainly due to exports (e.g. coffee)Slide16

4. National Front Era (1958-1978)

Failures of Rojas leads to Liberal

-Conservative

pact, institutionalizing bipartisanship

Pact like

Punto

Fijo

: two traditional parties agreed to share power. The agreements were submitted to the people of Colombia, who approved them as constitutional amendments in 1957 plebiscite. Soon after that congressional elections were held. Slide17

National Front – Key points

Presidency

alternate

every

4 years

between the

traditional

parties

Legislative bodies (congress, departmental assemblies, municipal councils) divided equally between Liberals and

Conservatives regardless electoral results. Within each traditional party, seats would be assigned by PR. Same rule of parity was applied to administrative appointments not under civil service

(governors, mayors, presidential cabinet) No other parties allowed to competePartisan criteria would not enter into the selection of civil servants. Legislation had to be passed by a 2/3 in the Congress (later amended)

10% of national budget to education. Women were to have equal political rights. Slide18

5. Breakdown of National Front

Ends violence caused by partisan competition

Policy

immobilism

– limited policy options

Easy for economic groups to block policies, hard to make fundamental reforms.

Economic

gains: strategy of ISI

with export promotion (avoids debt crisis)Excluded left, fuels violence & emergence of FARC, ELN, M-19Conflict claims over 220k lives over 50 yearsSlide19

Emergence of Guerrillas: FARC, ELN, M-19

Social

context

Growing inequality in countryside

Displacement of peasants

Depressed prices of coffee

Rapid

growth of teachers

FARC

was an outgrowth of self-defense forces established during the Violencia. FARC extended operation and

served as protector of peasants, squatters, and frontier colonists. Ejercito

de Liberacion Nacional (

ELN). Fidelista. Lacked FARC’s peasant base. Camilo

Torres: a priest who join the guerrilla. A third major revolutionary force was the M-

19. Nationalistic, like the Tupamaros in UruguaySlide20

Drug Bonanza/Drug War

During

1980 Colombia

becomes major drug producer/exporter

Small cultivators in 1970s grew marijuana

for

export.

Turbay

undertook eradication efforts urged by the US. Production shifted to coca. Colombia was not a major producer of coca plant. Bolivia and Peru cultivated the leaf, shipped laboratories in Colombia

. Colombians distributed to the US market.By mid-1980s cocaine more important than coffeeEmergence of “

Medellin Cartel”. Escobar became one of the wealthiest men in all Latin America. Judges, police officers, others involved in law enforcement accepted bribes to ignore illegal activities. Thus, drug industry was accompanied by spreading corruption. Slide21

Para-Military Organizations

Drugs threaten inflation, affect money supply, drain treasury, raise cost of borrowing,

inflated land and property values, and paralyzed justice system.

Mafias grew

up around illicit drugs. At a national convention held

secretly

in 1981 drug-gang bosses created a death squad called

Muerte

a a Secuestradores (MAS) or Death to Kidnappers. The squad purpose was to put an end to the guerrilla practice of kidnapping people.

Para-military organizations often collaborated with the military1984 state of siege was decreed for the entire country. Slide22

Shift from Barco to Gaviria

Barco’s (1986-90) presidency one

of the bloodiest of Colombian history. Guerrillas and paramilitaries –assisted at times by the government- confronted each other, other paramilitary groups of the drug dealers

fought

the

guerrillas

and the government. The so

called cleansing squads

–private citizens

, young male of the upper class- conducted sweeps to rid the cities of “undesirables” (gays, addicts and homeless). The government was weak to control these groups, killing kidnapping were common. Gaviria

(1990-1994) offered to reduce penalties for any drug trafficker who turns himself in. No extradition. Pablo Escobar turned himself in on June 1991, and was incarcerated. Gaviria’s drug policy did not end drug trafficking but ended terrorism. After Escobar’s escape there were only a few notable cases of drug terrorism, Escobar killed in a gun battle in 1993. Slide23

The New Constitution, 1991

On

May 1990, Colombians voted

on holding a constituent assembly.

Won by 4,991,887 vs

.

226,451 votes.

July 1990,

Gaviria proposed the following topics for the Assembly: 1)Congressional reform, a new system of election, national electoral district for guerrilla groups observing truces 2

) changes in the justice system, including plea bargaining, protection of the identity of judges and witnesses. 3) democratization of public administration system 4) protection of human rights5) status to regulate political parties and opposition, including financial

control6) mechanisms to give citizens more rights to participate in political economic administrative and cultural issues, including the referendumSlide24

Neoliberalism

Neoliberal restructuring did not begin until 1990, under President Cesar

Gaviria

Colombia never abandoned its

export-

orientation

No debt crisis

Coffee

is leading legal export (superseded by crude petroleum in recent years)

Economy today is predominantly a primary sector one and services sectors. Plan Colombia increases US influence and leverageSlide25

6. Current Era – No Left Turn

1994. Ernesto Samper – implicated in drug financing

1998. Andres

Pastrana

attempts to negotiate with FARC & ELN

2002

President Alvaro Uribe elected (re-elected in 2006)

Parapolitica

scandal“False positives”Constitutional Court rejects third term for Uribe2010- Juan Manuel Santos No “pink tide” – due to violence? Peace talks with FARC

Referendum 2016Slide26

LessonsHigh level of repression and violence within the framework of regime stability

Key factors:

Exclusion and repression

Two-party system with old,

clientelistic

parties

Tradition of

formal legalism

& democracy combined with high levels of social violenceStable but exclusionary/repressive democracy