16 - Political Violence and Terrorism in Colombia

Summary

Since the nineteenth century, Colombia has experienced diverse, complex and mutually reinforcing forms of political and criminal violence. The ubiquity of such egregious violence in Colombia has led scholars to attest to its ‘banal’, ordinary quality. Colombia has further been characterised as a country of ‘permanent’ and endemic ‘warfare’, typified by three stages of war and violence. Firstly, a long and violent nineteenth century, shaped by civil wars between elites throughout the country. Secondly, La Violencia during the mid-twentieth century, a period of mass violence moulded by a combination of anarchy, peasant insurgency and official terror, the most evident motor of which was the viscerally hostile fracture between the Conservative and Liberal parties, which resulted in approximately 300,000 killings. Finally, a third cycle of violence imposed by Colombia’s Cold War armed conflict. The armed conflict between the Colombian state, guerrilla insurgencies and paramilitary organisations, within which cartel violence played an increasingly decisive role, began in the 1960s and is ongoing at the time of writing, boasting a homicide rate akin to La Violencia. The aim of this chapter is to understand the role of terrorism and terrorist violence within the historical context of political violence in Colombia.