Colombia since 2000
(see also Colombia: Drug Wars 1980-2000, Colombia: Black History, Life & Values, Colombia: Indigenous Peoples & Movements, Colombia: Amazon)
Basics
On the Web: Articles
Venezuela & Colombia Increase Economic Ties. Gabriel Espinoza González, COHA (12/1/04).
Reporters Under Fire in Colombia. Carlos Lauría, NACLA Report (1-2/04).
Colombia. Beyond Armed Actors: A Look at Civil Society. Special issue of ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America (spr 2003), with contributions in English & Spanish by an impressive array of Colombian & North American expert observers.
Salt of the Earth: The US War on Drugs as Ecoterrorism. Juan D. Hidalgo (12/14/02).
Un presidente 'de a caballo'. Marcos Palacios, El País (Madrid) (8/7/02).
War in Colombia: Guerrillas, Drugs and Human Rights in US-Colombia Policy,1988-2002. Michael Evans (ed.) National Security Archive Briefing Book 69 (5/3/02). Despite Congressional restrictions, US has blurred lines between wars on drugs & guerillas. Bush seeks to remove limits.
US May End Curbs on Aid to Colombia. Karen de Young, Washington Post (3/14/02).
Administration Shifts Focus on Colombia Aid Juan Forero, NY Times (2/6/02). War on terror lets US admit that military aid to Colombia is about oil.
Colombia: Memory & Accountability. Luis Carlos Restrepo, NACLA Report (7-8/00). Nunca Más Project.
War & Profit in Colombia. Jo-Marie Burt, NACLA Report (7-8/00).
Drug Control or Biowarfare? Sharon Stevenson & Jeremy Bigwood, Mother Jones (5/3/00).
On the Web: Specialized Sites
Center for International Policy: Colombia Program.
Colombia Solidarity Campaign (UK).
Council on Hemispheric Affairs.
International Labor Rights Fund.
Resource Center of the Americas.
US/Labor Education in the Americas Project (LEAP). Monitors systematic extermination of Colombian trade union leaders.
Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA).
In the Library: Articles
Alvarez, María D. "Forests under fire," NACLA Report 35,1 (7-8/01):29-31. War vs. Colombian ecosystems.
Anon. "War escalates in Colombia," NACLA Report 34,3 (11-12/00).
Bacon, David. "The most dangerous place to join a union," Progressive (11/03):29-30.
Braun, Tico. "The art of negotiation," NACLA Report 34,2 (9-10/00). For release of hostages.
Carrión, María. "Barrio Nelson Mandela," NACLA Report 34,2 (9-10/00). Refugees in Cartagena.
Chernick, Marc. "Elusive peace: struggling against the logic of violence," NACLA Report 34,2 (9-10/00).
Dongen, Rachel Van. "Despite kidnappings, Columbia urges travel," Christian Science Monitor (10/20/03):7.
Dudley, Steven. "Who killed Locarno & Orcasitas?" Progressive (6/01):31-4. Murder of union leaders by paramilitaries at coal mine operated by American company.
_________. "On the road with the FARC," Progressive (11/03):23-28.
Edwards, Beatrice. "Colombia: taking a stand in Cali," NACLA Report 36,4 (1-2/03):37-38. Workers pay high price for holding up privatization of city's public utilities.
Forero, Juan. "Colombia massacre's strange fallout," NY Times (2/23/01).
__________. "For Colombia's angry youth, hip-hop helps keep it real," NY Times (4/16/04).
García-Peña, Daniel. "The National Liberation Army (ELN) creates a different peace process," NACLA Report 34,2 (9-10/00).
Gómez, Ignacio. "Terror & the press," NACLA Report 34,1 (7-8/00):41.
Granda, Rodrigo with Jean Batou. "The guerrilla in Colombia," Monthly Review 59,10 (3/08):14-32. Rare opportunity for readers in English to examine the FARC's perspective on more than four decades of armed resistance to government repression.
Hagen, Jason. "New Colombian President promises more war," NACLA Report 36,1 (7-8/02):24-29.
Hughes, Solomon. "Sticky situation. British chemical company abandons Plan Colombia, In These Times (8/20/01):6-7. Responds to complaints about health consequences of coca fumigation.
Isaacson, Adam. "Colombia peace in tatters," NACLA Report 35,5 (3-4/02):10-13.
__________. "Washington's 'new war' in Colombia," NACLA Report 36,5 (3-4/03):13-18.
Kawell, JoAnn. "A killer fungus waits in the wings," NACLA Report 35,1 (7-8/01):32-33.
Klare, Michael. "US aid to Colombia's military: the oil connection," NACLA Report (1-1/01):20-24.
Lauría, Carlos. "Reporters under fire in Colombia," NACLA Report 37,4 (1-2/04):36-38.
Leech, Garry M. "An interview with FARC Commander Simón Trinidad," NACLA Report 34,2 (9-10/00). Dated June 14, 2000.
__________. "The battle for Colombia's 'Little Sarajevo'," NACLA Report 36,5 (3-4/03):19-23. US Special Forces trainers helping Colombians fight guerrillas & protect an oil pipeline in Arauca.
__________. "Plan Petroleum in Putumayo," NACLA Report 37,6 (5-6/04):8-11.
Leogrande, William & K.E. Sharpe. "Two wars or one? Drugs, guerrillas & Colombia's new violencia," World Policy Journal 17,3 (fall 00):1-11.
Maldonado, Victoria. "Just a little respect: community mothers fight for their rights," NACLA Report 34,6 (5-6/01).
McEoin, Gary. "Elites dig in, population grows, violence continues in Colombia," National Catholic Reporter (11/16/01):14-15.
Miller, T. Christian. "Paramilitaries took no prisoners on the banks of the Naya river," LA Times (5/20/01).
Molano, Alfredo. "The evolution of the FARC: a guerrilla group's long history," NACLA Report 34,2 (9-10/00).
Petras, James. "The geopolitics of Plan Colombia," Monthly Review 53,1 (5/01).
__________. "The FARC faces the empire," Latin American Perspectives 27,5 (9/00):134-43.
Reinsborough, Patrick. "Colombia's U'Wa people: the real price of oil," NACLA Report (1-2/01):44.
Richani, Nazih. "The paramilitary connection," NACLA Report (9-10/00). Background & connection to Colombian Armed Forces of paramilitaries.
__________. "Colombia at the crossroads: the future of the peace accords," NACLA Report 35,4 (1-2/02):17-20.
Rohter, Larry. "Colombians tell of massacre, as army stood by," NY Times (7/14/00).
Sánchez, G. & W. Aviles. "Colombia: the forgotten war," Latin American Perspectives 28 (1/01):5-11.
Schrader, Esther. "US may be left holding purse strings on Colombia aid," LA Times (10/11/00). Europeans & Colombians reluctant to commit big money to Plan Colombia.
Sharpe, Kenneth E. & William Spencer. "Refueling a doomed war on drugs: flawed policy feeds growing conflict," NACLA Report 35,3 (11-12/01):21-26. Bush regime plunges deeper into conflict.
Stokes, D. “Better lead than bread? A critical analysis of the US’s Plan Colombia," Civil Wars 4,2 (01):59-78.
__________. “Why the end of the Cold War doesn’t matter: The US war of terror in Colombia," Review of International Studies 29,4 (10/03):569-585.
__________. "Worthy & unworthy victims in Colombia," Z Magazine (3/5/03).
__________. "The weaknesses of US human rights monitoring in Colombia," Colombia Journal (9/8/03).
__________. "Imperial policing," CounterPunch (5/18/04).
__________. "Terror, capital & crude: US counterinsurgency in Colombia," in L. Panitch & C. Leys (eds.) Socialist Register 2005: The Empire Reloaded (NY: Monthly Review, 2005).
Tate, Winifred. "Repeating past mistakes:aiding counterinsurgency in Colombia," NACLA Report 34,2 (9-10/00).
__________. "Into the Andean quagmire: Bush II keeps up march to militarization," NACLA Report 35,3 (11-12/01):45-49.
__________. "Colombia: the Right gathers momentum," NACLA Report 35,6 (5-6/02):13-14,51-2.
Toro, Juan Pablo. “Columbia deploys peasant soldiers,” San Jose Mercury (6/17/03):11A.
van Dongen, Rachael. “Colombia’s balancing act of peace,” Christian Science Monitor (7/24/03):7.
Vargas Mesa, Ricardo. "Biowarfare in Colombia? A controversial fumigation scheme," NACLA Report 34,2 (9-10/00). Experimental fungus would supplement decade-old, unsuccessful spraying of glyphosate.
Walker, William O. III. "A reprise for 'nation building': low intensity conflict spreads in the Andes," NACLA Report 35,1 (7-8/01):23.
Wilson, Scott. "Chronicle of a massacre foretold," Washington Post (1/28/01). Detailed account of 1/17/01 paramilitary attack on Chengue, Sucre, actively abetted by officials of Colombian Navy.
__________. "Interview with Carlos Castaño, head of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia," Washington Post (5/11/01).
Youngers, Colette. "Cocaine madness: counternarcotics & militarization in the Andes," NACLA Report 34,3 (11-12/00):16-19.
In the Library: Non-Fiction Books
Amnesty International. Colombia: Return to Hope. Forcibly Displaced Communities of Urabá & Medio Atrato Region (London, 2001).
__________. Colombia: Scarred Bodies, Hidden Crimes. Sexual Violence Against Women in the Armed Conflict (NY, 2004).
Angell, Alan & Pamela Lowden & Rosemary Thorp. Decentralizing Development: The Political Economy of Institutional Change in Colombia & Chile (NY: Oxford, 2001).
Human Rights Watch. The Ties that Bind: Colombia & Military-Paramilitary Links (NY, 2000). Details on human rights abuses by Colombian Army's 4th & 7th Brigades in Medellín & Villavicencio, both recipients of US weapons, munitions & training.
__________. The "Sixth Division": Military-Paramilitary Ties & U.S. Policy in Colombia (NY, 2001). Eye-witness reports of paramilitary violence in various parts of country, and Colombian military's support for it despite official denials.
International Crisis Group. Colombia's Elusive Quest for Peace (Latin America Report 1; Bogotá/Brussels, 2002).
Kirk, Robin. More Terrible than Death: Massacres, Drugs, & America's War in Colombia (NY: Public Affairs, 2003).
Leech, Garry. Killing Peace: Colombia's Conflict & the Failure of US Intervention (NY: Information Network of the Americas, 2002).
Livingstone, Grace. Inside Colombia: Drugs, Democracy & War (New Brunswick NJ: Rutgers, 2004).
Manwaring, Max G. Implementing Plan Colombia: Strategic & Operational Imperatives for the US Military (Carlisle Barracks PA: US War College, 2000).
Rabasa, Angel & Peter Chalk. Colombian Labyrinth: The Synergy of Drugs & Insurgency & its Implications for Regional Stability (Santa Monica CA: Rand, 2001).
Restrepo, Elvira María. Colombian Criminal Justice in Crisis: Fear & Distrust (NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003).
Ruiz, Bert. The Colombian Civil War (Jefferson NC, 2001). Focuses on escalating U.S. military involvement.
Scott, Peter Dale. Drugs, Oil & War: The United States in Afghanistan, Colombia & Indochina (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003).
Springer, Natalia Maria. Setting Up a Truth Commission in the Middle of Conflict: Case Study of Colombia (Leuven, Belgium: University of Leuven Faculty of Law, 2001).
Stokes, Doug. America's Other War: Terrorizing Colombia (London: Zed, 2004).
Taussig, Michael. Law in a Lawless Land: Diary of a Limpieza in Colombia (NY: New Press, 2003). Searing first-hand account of the occupation of a Valle de Cauca town by paramilitaries, & the extermination of suspected criminals & guerrilla sympathizers.
In the Library: Fiction
In the Library: For Young Readers
In the Library: Poetry
In the Library: Drama
In the Library: Photography
Stauder, Monique & Kirk Semple. "Colombia's cocaine frontier [photoessay with text]," Mother Jones (11-12/01):58-63.
CD & Audio
Film & Video
"La corona" [2008], dir. Amanda Michel & Isabel Vega, 40m. From Runaway Films.
"Resistencia: Hip Hop in Colombia" [2002], dir. Tom Feiling, 51m. From Cinema Guild. Current crisis seen through eyes of rappers, DJs & breakdancers.
"The Supreme Uneasiness: Incessant Portrait of Fernando Vallejo (La desazón suprema, retrato incesante de Fernando Vallejo)" [2003], dir. Luis Ospina, 90m. From Latin American Video Archives. Intimate documentary on famous author of Our Lady of the Assassins.
"Welcome to Colombia" [2004], dir. Catalina Villar, 65m. From First Run/Icarus. Travel in government, rebel & paramilitary-held regions during 2002 presidential campaign reveals a populace that is tired of fighting & blaming, & simply wants peace.