State Building and Conflict Resolution in Colombia, 1986-1994

Presents a study of two Colombian presidents’ attempts to resolve the conflicts in their country
 
State Building and Conflict Resolution in Columbia, 1986–1994 presents a study of two Colombian presidents’ attempts to resolve the conflicts in their country. Both President Virgilio Barco Vargas (1986–1990) and President César Gaviria Trujillo (1990–1994) felt they had to do something to end the use of violence by leftist guerrillas, drug dealers, and paramilitary groups. Those groups were using violence against the government, as well as the people, and were thereby controlling vast areas of the country. In reaction, the government itself was at times violating the human rights of Colombians.
 
Previous chief executives had used force primarily to suppress lawbreaking groups, with only limited results. For example, Barco's immediate predecessor, Belisario Betancur Cuartas (1982–1986), had negotiated cease­fires with guerrilla groups, but all efforts failed in the end. So, both President Barco and President Gaviria sought peaceful ways out of the conflicts. In so doing they were attempting to change patterns that had been established in more than 150 years of Colombian history.

All of the policies of the two presidents included some form of bargaining—either through formal negotiations, as with the guerrilla groups, or more indirectly, as with drug dealers and paramilitary groups. This study will show that the Barco and Gaviria administrations had some successes in these efforts but that they also had many failures. It will also show that human rights violations and common crime rose during the two presidencies.
 

Harvey F. Kline is a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Alabama. He is the author of Chronicle of a Failure Foretold: The Peace Process of Colombian President Andrés Pastrana; and Showing Teeth to the Dragons: State-Building by Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez, 2002–2006.