Violence, Attempts upon Communities

Building Cultures of Peace in the Community Life in the Face of Intensifying Political Violence in Colombia

Building Cultures of Peace in the Community Life in the Face
of Intensifying Political Violence in Colombia

Stella Sacipa Rodríguez
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia

Abstract

The escalation of political violence, the extent of psychological trauma, the dehumanization, the naturalization of violence, institutional lying, and breach of trust are difficulties to building cultures of peace in Colombia. Their analysis and the experiences of communities of resistance and/or of peace, can lead to propose challenges that lead to manners of coexistence.

Keywords: Violence, cultures of peace, community experiences, peace.

 
La construcción de culturas de paz en la vida comunitaria frente a la intensificación de la violencia política en Colombia

Resumen

La intensificación de la violencia política, la amplitud del trauma psicosocial, la deshumanización, la naturalización de la violencia, la mentira institucional, la ruptura de la confianza son dificultades para la construcción de culturas de paz en Colombia. Su análisis y las experiencias de las comunidades de resistencia y/o de paz, permiten proponer retos que conduzcan a caminos de convivencia.

Palabras clave: Violencia, culturas de paz,  experiencias comunitarias, paz.

Introduction
To ask oneself the question for the building of cultures of peace, in a country like Colombia, involves thinking about the difficulties and challenges that it involves, and the idea of peace that we start from. In our research group, we have done this and have opted for welcoming the call for the creation of a global movement for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence of the UNESCO (1999: 7-9), which states:

"The culture of peace is peace in action ... it is a culture of life which is to allow the coexistence of different beings and to instill a new ethic of solidarity, listening, caring for others and responsibility, in an invigorated democratic society that fights exclusion and guarantees political equality, social equity and cultural diversity " ... culture based on active non-violence, on pluralism, "This global movement must be based on a very broad definition of the culture of peace, that is based on respect for human rights, democracy and tolerance .."

We back the proposal of Galtung, Jacobsen & Brand-Jacobsen (2002) who consider the approach of opposition to peace must not be sought in war, but in violence, so that any definition of peace means the absence or reduction of all types of violence, either direct (physical or verbal), structural (avoidable deaths caused by social and economic structures), or cultural. This is why I enounce first the difficulties that hinder the creation of cultures of peace.

Difficulties that hinder the creation of cultures of peace

In Colombia, over the years, there have been accumulating feelings of grief, anger and fatigue, caused by the prolonged armed conflict. Those feelings combined with the lack of a healthy authority, able to settle conflicts by means of negotiation and routes of reconciliation have promoted confusion between healthy authority and authoritarianism, leading many Colombians to opt for the latter. In many sectors that make up the Colombian society, there are multiple pressures from various social sectors asking for options of force, pressing for the liquidation of the enemy in a vigorous and rapid way.

Much of the anguished Colombian opinion, desperate due to violence, and the numerous injuries that armed confrontation has brought to Colombian families, has become polarized, it is deeply split and dreams of a quick definition, by means of weapons with the immediate termination of the war through total annihilation of the other, the enemy.

Today the military dynamics overwhelm the armed actors and permeate the whole of society, the logic of war cuts across all dimensions of life in the country, we live the militarization of everyday life, where the only way to tackle the other is in denial, making him an enemy, annihilating him symbolically or physically: it is the polarization (Martín-Baró, 1990) of relationships, a dynamics visible in the form of settling disputes in day to day life.

The escalation of political violence in the past 22 years in the turf war for drug trafficking routes or land for national and multinational agribusiness has led to the forced displacement of 3,400,000 expressed by the current government Director of Social Action in an interview (Guardiola, 2010); or of 4,900,000 according to the Consultancy for Human Rights and Displacement (CODHES). Rojas, its director, noted (Guardiola b, 2010) "10 percent of the total Colombian population has been moved because of violence and that exhibits deep structural flaws. ... Here is a true humanitarian tragedy... many people, long suffering the rigors of a dislocation that involves the violation of all their rights. "

In addition, UNHRC (2010) expressed "grave concern for the widespread practice of enforced disappearances (28000, officially recognized in the National Register of Missing Persons) and the number of bodies that have been exhumed from mass graves ... The Committee notes that the discovery of the graves has been based mainly on statements of demobilized paramilitaries and the vast majority of victims were tortured before being executed."

Additionally, the inhuman practice of kidnapping and extortion carried out by the FARC is permanent and hurts many sectors of Colombian society, as well as attacks on people who do not give up the right to their domain, in clear violation of international humanitarian law. In this regard, the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, (2010) in its annual report states: "The report shows how the internal armed conflict continues to pose many challenges for the country, including the total disregard for international humanitarian law by guerrilla groups. This situation is exacerbated by the violence against civilians carried out by illegal armed groups in the demobilization process of paramilitary organizations, the nexus of armed actors with drug trafficking and the particularly severe impact of armed conflict on indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities ." (UNHRC, 2010:1).

The problem of political violence is such that in discussing the infringed people, sociologist Pedro Cortés (2005: 3) says, "violence has been so widespread that what one might ask now is: how many families are there that have NOT been affected?”

People who have suffered forced displacement, the families of those who have disappeared, the abductees and their families, as well as victims of blackmail and extortion by armed groups suffer psychological trauma, a mental injury produced socially (Martín-Baró, 1990).

The damage to the processes of life caused by armed fighting, being forced to witness torture and murder, the impossibility of understanding, of making sense of the situations generated by the armed actors impact the victims psychically and psychosocially (Sacipa, 2001); where fear has become a psychological tool for social control, to generate submission and passivity (Lira, 1991). The emotional suffering caused by the losses, by family fragmentation, sadness, shame, mistrust, uncertainty, personal devaluation, are made patent in the stories of displaced persons (Sacipa 2003, 2007).

It is clear that both those who commit violent acts as well as those who promote their implementation have been dehumanized. Samayoa (1990) refers to dehumanization as the modification of cognitive schemes and patterns of conduct, which involves, among others, the loss or impoverishment of the capacity for lucid thinking, of the ability to communicate with accuracy, of sensitivity to suffering, of respect and of solidarity. This dehumanization is evident in a very unfortunate way in the confessions of demobilized paramilitaries2, in which they chronicle the cruel training they received 3 in violent practices such as the dismemberment of living peasants, playing with the severed head of the "enemy", drinking blood from the victims, killing deserters' friends, or removing children from the wombs of their mothers. 4 Acts that horrify us and tell us about the "lack of reflection ... practices and exercises of the conditioning of the human conscience to kill ..." (Angulo, 2007: 556)

But in contrast to these facts, we find that in many places, especially in cities, that people have been naturalized to violence. And it has to do with such a prolonged exposure to it. In this sense, a colleague of ours, Mónica Novoa (2010: 2) states: "There is no doubt, such a prolonged conflict resonates in various spheres of life, impacting how people perceive it in unusual ways, conceptualize it and act on the world we live in, to the point of "naturalizing" violence so much, that they may refer to themselves as happy. The Happy Planet Index, HPI, published in June 20095 , pointed to Colombia as the fifth among 143 countries, whose population more effectively aims for happiness, the people who at the same time live (or survive) in the midst of an armed conflict lasting more than 40 years”.

The escalation of political violence is fed by structural violence and vice versa, the first driving  peasants into the cities, which has increased the second, a situation that is even worse for those who have been uprooted, since according to the Civil Society Alternate Report to the Committee on Economic and Cultural Rights (2009: 3-4),
"Colombia is the second country in the region with the greatest inequality in income distribution, reaching a Gini coefficient of 0.576. The tax system design is clearly regressive, with emphasis on indirect taxation of the population with low pay and the extension of exemptions to the taxes of higher income sectors" Simultaneously with this, "The concentration of land ownership is very high and tends to increase: 0.43% of the owners own 62.91% of the rural land area, while 57.87% of the owners, have only a 1.66% of the land. Despite the recommendation made by the Treaty Committee regarding the implementation of agrarian reform in Colombia, a reverse land reform has been consolidated with a combination of legal and illegal means”.

In this order of ideas, an editorial in the newspaper El Tiempo (April 13, 2010)6, referring to the capture of farmers in Antioquia and Chocó, for the promotion and financing of paramilitary groups, said: “This is the 'paraeconomy' a name that could describe the cash, logistical, political and legal nexus that sectors in various regions of the country offer the leaders of the paramilitaries to commit their most heinous crimes against humanity." According to the newspaper, “the authorities accuse the alliance of agribusinesses with the paramilitaries operating in the Urabá area of masterminding the murder and displacement of peasants and Afrodescendants, and the illegal appropriation of their land.  And it further states: "It is undeniable that regional power and the capture of public funds, such as those for health, were not the only area that served these illegal armed groups to consolidate their reign of terror. Employers, landlords and even multinationals paid for protection and ordered the paramilitaries to undertake the gruesome task of killing peasants and union leaders. Also, many deployed a systematic dispossession of hundreds of thousands of hectares and the usufruct of them in activities such as mining, ranching, agribusiness, illicit crops and logging. "

However, in the 90's, entrepreneurs, politicians and the military denied the joint activity with the paramilitaries. In fact, the common thing in many sectors of the Colombian population in the last 22 years was the denial of these facts, denial tied to a great indifference for the victims who are mostly peasants, poor, indigenous and of African descent.

“And that seemed not to affect other Colombians. This indifference, this denial is also part of the psychological damage to those who have experienced war. Not just the geographical distance of populations, it is the emotional distance; it is what the authors call a structure of feelings in societies, social practices that cause many Colombians to be closer to other countries and continents, rather than to their national reality "(Novoa, 2010: 21).

Martín-Baró (1990: 30) states that lying is characteristic of war, "ranging from the corruption of institutions to deliberate deceit in public discourse, through an environment of suspicious lies with which most people tend to conceal their views and even their choices ".

Institutional lying was inherent in the assassination of presidential candidate Carlos Pizarro, leader of the M-19, who in 1990 made peace with the government of  Virgilio Barco. After 20 years, the investigation was revived and also recognized that along with paramilitary chief Castaño, retired generals and intelligence agents were involved7.

Another example of systematic concealment of reality (Martín-Baró, 1990) is constituted by extrajudicial killings of many young Colombians. Researchers Angulo, Zarama, and Burgos (2009) noted: "False positives are cases where security forces perpetrated gross violations of human rights and made them appear as victories in the battle against guerrillas. Victims are almost always dressed as guerrillas or buried in mass graves."

Another lack of truth, is related to the demobilization of the paramilitaries, according to Sanin Gutiérrez (2010): "Although the demobilization of 2003 had undeniable successes, important deterrents remained, -when coupled with drug funding sources, commanders who did not accompany the process and repeat-fighters were revived in so-called Criminal Gangs (BACRIM in Spanish)... It is not true that they are simple agencies of common criminals; they have political objectives, they demand functions of coercion and social control, and given their history they privilege their customers and their integration in regional life with stability imposed through violence. The BACRIM retain multiple ties to state security agencies, as evidenced by the horror of so-called false positives. One might  add that among their assets they have a series of links with the political system, offering them access to resources, security, well-located customers and a role in the establishment of regional order."

The presence of this armed actor is confirmed by the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, which in a statement on April 23 complained that it had been victimized by new paramilitary attacks on the 12th and 13th of April, when they threatened to exterminate it; and Father Giraldo, its pastoral companion and human rights defender in the communities, was threatened in graffiti that appeared in Bogotá on April 23 as reported by the CINEP (2010).

The escalation of violence in Colombia, is closely related to what  Jesuit Alejandro Angulo (2007) describes as "a serious crisis of ethics", which is very visible in the joint activity between politicians and paramilitaries, in what is called para-politics, with an absence of ethics, by which the ends of political control justifies the means.

Paramilitary leader Vicente Castaño, in an interview in 2005, stated: "There is a friendship with politicians in areas where we operate. There are direct relationships between commanders and politicians and the forming of alliances that are undeniable. The self-defense groups give advice to many of them and there are commanders who have candidates friends in the municipalities and corporations8.”

Another paramilitary leader, Mancuso has repeatedly made patent a (2004, 2007, 2008, 2010) 9, connection to congressmen, mayors, governors and other political leaders who took advantage of the influence exerted by paramilitaries in the region for electoral purposes. Similarly a former senator under investigation stated in an interview in 2006 that almost all political leaders of the Atlantic Coast had accepted the paramilitary political project10.

In my opinion the cognitive changes related to dehumanization (Samayoa, 1990) appear to be functional in order to legitimize violent practices. A frightening example of this is the course called "Why is it lawful to kill communists in Colombia?" 11, which was taught to paramilitary groups by Mr. Noguera, deputy chair of the Administrative Security Department, between 1998 and 2002, according to declarations made to the Supreme Court by paramilitary Mancuso, which confirm the statements of another former paramilitary made in June 2008. Now, the serious thing about this is that for many years it was common to hear many Colombians legitimize political violence with claims such as: “If they have done something to the victims there must be a good reason for it”.

The Ethical Crisis in justice is daunting, as expressed by Jesuit Javier Giraldo (2009) in the letter of Objection of Conscience, which he submitted to the Public Prosecutor’s Office posing the moral impediment that prevented him from attending a judicial proceeding. Due to the fact that in the past, as a member of the pastoral group accompanying the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartadó, he collaborated with authorities striving to alleviate the suffering of victims and uncovering the truth.  In his letter he tells how for 29 years, he saw how time passed without any progress, however the manipulation of the testimonies of victims, witness intimidation and even death of the complainants was visible. “It all reveals collusion between the military and judicial officials" (Giraldo, 2009: 34) in practices at odds with ethics.

The impunity alluded to by Giraldo is also visible in the recovery process for displaced people. In the UN in Geneva, an expert from the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, denounced that "only 20% of claims concerning dispossessed land are investigated. What about the other 80%? There appears to be impunity for violators" 12.

According to the Annual Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the human rights situation in Colombia (March 2010), the ethical crisis also covers "the DAS intelligence agency dependent on the President of the Republic, which had been under development at least since 2003 and had comprehensively and systematically undertaken a series of illegal activities directed against, among others, human rights defenders, political opponents, journalists and senior government officials, such as the Vice President.” Moreover, disturbing information published in the media indicated that even judges of the Supreme Court were under surveillance. The Human Rights Commission, a Special Spokesperson for the United Nations and the UN Office in Colombia were also monitored. These actions, in many cases, were designed to neutralize the work done by the victims, who were considered "legitimate targets" for being potential opponents of government policies ". By placing the spotlight, on the activity of this body it made persecution to difference very visible by a totalitarian position, characterized by a kind of thought unable to conceive diversity, and as Suarez raised (2006: 86). "Through the aggregation of meaning one seeks to legitimize the political persecution of individuals and groups who advocate moral, ethical, and political values that differ from dominant views.”

Sharing with Angulo (2007) the idea that "ethics is the weaver of the fabric of solidarity that re-links human beings to each other and their environment" we have been particularly concerned regarding the fact that the Government arguing the annihilation of the FARC in the past eight years has led to an open armed struggle and invited citizens to participate in networks of informants, thus promoting the breakdown of trust in psychosocial interactions (Sacipa, Vidales, Galindo and Tovar, 2007)

The democratic security policy reminds me of Martín-Baro’s (1990) approach, of what war brings to social relations: violence, polarization and lies. The formation of networks of cooperation or of informants engaging people from within the civilian population promotes that militarist dynamics overflow the armed actors and permeate the social group (Sacipa, 2005). It is a war strategy that tears the social fabric, which destroys social bonds, in destroying the component of trust in the interactions that build civility.

By establishing distrust as the basic principle of relationships it makes it impossible for there to be unprepared meetings between citizens. The relations between neighbors are a blend of suspicion and the presence of differences is considered an object of accusation, reinforcing intolerance. As Martín-Baró, the Salvadoran Jesuit and psychologist stated this exacerbates social polarization, that is the movement of groups toward opposite ends. There is a critical crack in the framework of coexistence. Similarly, in various stages of daily life any difference is a threat, distrust is established as a basic principle of relationships precluding any encounter, leading people to forgo relationships that may be critical for them. Because as Castillo del Pino noted (2000) trust is the basic attitude that governs all interactions.

Building cultures of peace

As stated in the beginning, we are interested in building cultures of peace, and as scholars we think that "the political dimension of knowledge can be strengthened to counter the functionality of violence" by its deconstruction, and by the recognition, construction and implementation of proposals that offer alternative conceptual relationships, 'relational proposals involving different looks to build more purposeful realities', to make social change possible including structural transformations.

We agree with Maritza Montero (1991: 38), that "the psychologist's role is essentially that of an agent of social change, committed to a project that seeks freedom, justice, equality, democracy and respect for human rights”.

We welcome the approach of Galtung, Jacobsen & Brand-Jacobsen (1996) stating that peace, rather than a goal, is a process, a journey. It is the condition and the context of cooperation with which to transform conflict creatively and nonviolently .

In this sense, in Colombia there are experiences of resistance in the face of war. Hernández (2002) says that probably the first experiences of resistance were born with the CRIC, the Cauca's indigenous movement in the 70's, the organization that fought against the structural violence. It later became the origin of the experiences of civil resistance, such as the Proyecto Nasa, in 1980; the Jambaló experience in 1988; and the community of La María in 1989. Indigenous resistance that is based on a deep sense of self-government, autonomy, respect for territory and cultural identity (Cortés, 2005).

Rural communities have developed various peace initiatives such as The Association of Rural Workers of Carare  (ATCC) in Santander in 1987; the Popular Consultation of Aguachica in Cesar in 1995; the experience of Riachuelo in the Municipality of Charalá, Department of Santander in 1997; the Municipal Constituent Assembly of Mogotes in 1998; the Communities in Self-Determination, Life and Dignity (CAVIDA) in the Cacarica in 1998; the experience of Samaniego in Nariño in 1998; and the experience of Pensilvania, Caldas in 1998.

Black communities resisting pressure and displacement caused by armed groups were organized in the Peace Community of the Antioquia Urabá and the Chocano Urabá in 1998, 1999. In them, as researchers, we found that "community establishes distance between all armed actors, does not cooperate with them and does not allow them to stay inside" (Sacipa, 2001). In this process communities generate participatory processes in its citizens about peaceful coexistence, and changing political culture.

The Program for Peace, created by the Society of Jesus, in conjunction with the National Secretariat of Social Pastoral Activities of the Bishops Conference, developed the School of Peace and Harmony, and during eleven years of work was present in 49 church jurisdictions in an inclusive proposal and pluralistic education for peace. Thus according to the School, "the Church in Colombia has played a crucial role in accompanying people and communities at risk and in some regions has been the only entity to do so" (2009: 17).

The Church and NGOs, according to Hernández (2000) are key factors in processes of resistance to war, they make it possible for the population to create alternatives to conflict, and support their mobilization and unity. The peace communities, to whose training these two institutions have contributed, are experiences of nonviolent civil resistance, which works on social reconstruction, the revival of confidence and developing solutions for those affected by violence and war. These communities silently helped to build local peace, resisting violence of armed conflict, often at the expense of their own lives and they have taught us that building peace is possible without resorting to the use of violence even in the midst of crossfire. As further action in the peace communities, CINEP/ the Program for Peace, has had an important role. The Society of Jesus has accompanied several communities in the learning, organizational and educational process, as well as defended their rights when these are violated by those bearing arms.

In our own experience in university work at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, we accompanied a community organization (Cedepaz) for three years and assisted in their choice of nonviolence. "Supporting the process of their construction as an organization we feel they are citizens subject to law, in the building and autonomous self-management of their organization" (Sacipa and Tovar, 2004).
Now, faced with the escalation of violence, communities remain firm in their posture, and even though the Indian shelters of  Tacueyo, Toribio and San Francisco, in northern Cauca have been heavily affected by armed conflict, they persist in their decision, and in a communication to the public. They call "to all social and popular base organization, to all peoples and communities to continue fighting tirelessly to defend the territory, to strengthen  unity and peaceful resistance in defense of life "(Indigenous Council of Tacueyo, 2010).

Working for the building of cultures of peace in Colombia is essential at a time like the present, when the social fabric is increasingly fractured. The experiences of the peace communities, of the initiatives and experiences of peace and civil resistance have shown us the paths followed by the communities themselves as educators and caretakers of these processes in the field of popular organization, civic participation, community empowerment, with accomplishments that speak of the amazing human capacity for the renewal of hope, of the immense possibilities for social reconstruction. The intention is to not be anchored in the violence that causes suffering. It is to accompany those who suffer from political violence, yes. But the decision is to go beyond, to get glimpses of hope, to co-construct a life and use it as a useful tool in the generation of cultures of peace, because as Montero noted (2007, 2009) liberation is necessarily a collective enterprise.

In national politics, there is today  a movement of thoughtful people from various sectors of the population, a movement that goes from authoritarianism to the authority exercised in a democratic stance, guided by the motto "life is sacred". It is a movement towards the recovery of ethics, which has, as its most outstanding element, the awakening of youth, that for the first time engages in politics, and changes ways of doing politics from a critical point of view.  This allows us to glimpse the recovery of hope. It is useful to remind the analysis conducted by Montiel and Rodriguez (2009) concerning the pro-democracy movement in the Philippines. Although we note that in Colombia in a strict sense there is no dictator because the president has been elected by a majority vote. But without doubt, it is a situation of authoritarianism that has promoted the death of thousands of people, and in a way similar to that of the Philippines, in a sociopolitical movement that aims to change the authoritarian regime and care for life.

Now, to strive for peace involves facing several challenges. One of them is to think how to contribute to changing the personal and collective disposition, in other words to produce a movement of the attitudes that throughout our historical construction as a nation have led to a standing armed conflict, looking for alternatives to the concern expressed by UNESCO as follows: "The question is to spotlight the great challenge before us, namely: to begin the transition from a culture of war to a culture of peace" (UNESCO, 1999: 18).

A challenge for all social sciences, including psychology, it is undoubtedly to explore how to stimulate the transformation of thought in Colombians about ways of resolving conflicts. In this sense cultural psychologist Bruner (1990: 59) states: "The viability of a culture lies in its ability to resolve conflict, to explain the differences and renegotiate the community's meanings".  Zulueta (1980) emphasizes the importance for Colombian society to learn to live peacefully, without waiting for the absence of conflict, without denying it, but on the contrary, recognizing it.

As several historians have noted, the relations between human beings throughout history have been marked by war. It has been imprinted on the psyche, in the form of relationships, of building ties, in social dynamics. However, this is not a peculiarity of the Colombian people; it is known worldwide that violence has marked history. However it is very noticeable that some people have managed democratic developments in social movements that have moved away from authoritarianism.

It is vital that people in all sectors understand the responsibility of different actors in the current situation. Here the question concerns how to promote transformations, changes in social groups, in people, so that responsibilities that historically have not been taken on shall go through a movement from denial to recognition.

This raises the question of the ethical transformation of those who have consistently generated economic, social and political exclusion in Colombia, those who have not led to favorable conditions for a just and dignified life for all Colombians.  The question relates to changing the etical position of those who claim to defend the Colombian People, submerging them in pain and reproducing the anti-values of those they seek to remove from power, such as exclusion, disrespect for life and the annihilation of the other.

There is talk of ethics training and guidance for Colombian leaders in conducting, not only the position in relation to armed conflict, but in leading the nation. In this sense Angulo (2007: 559) talks about ethics reform, saying that it "requires the beginning of a collective agreement, and this, in turn, implies a shared understanding of the terms at hand because the result of ethical agreement is a social contract, which is not limited to the formation of the state and the election of the government, but to be effective, it must cover all other human dimensions.”
________________________________________
Notes
1. ssacipa@javeriana.edu.co
2. Confessions of a Paramilitary. Morris productions, YouTube, 2008.
3. Testimony of a Paramilitary. YouTube, Semana TV, January 2008.
4. Confessions of Paramilitaries (Genocide). YouTube, First Impact Program, December 2007.
5. Can be found in the online version http://www.happyplanetindex.org/public-data/files/happy-planet-index-2-0.pdf
6. http://www.eltiempo.com/opinion April 13, 2010
7. See the full story in El Tiempo, Sunday, April 25, Editorial Policy, pp. 1-2.
8. See full interview in the magazine Semana, edition No. 1205, Sunday June 5, 2005.
http://www.semana.com/noticias-portada/habla-vicente-castano/87628.aspx
9. The information can be found at: Salvatore Mancuso accused generals and congressmen via satellite declaration before the Supreme Court. El Tiempo, September 26, 2008. http://www.eltiempo.com/colombia/justicia/2008-09-26/salvatore-mancuso-acuso-a-generales-ycongresistas-en-declaracion-via-satelite-ante la-1 cut-suprema_4566861
-Salvatore Mancuso. Knot agreement. Jaramillo to a jail in the District of Columbia. Luis Eduardo Celis. Monday, August 11, 2008.
http://www.razonpublica.com/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=174
- “I have for you the political tsunami” December 3, 2008. http://www.cambio.com.co/paiscambio/805/ARTICULO-PRINTER_FRIENDLY-PRINTER_FRIENDLY_CAMBIO-4702581.html
- Paramilitaries in Congress. http://www.semana.com/wf_ImprimirArticulo.aspx?IdArt=80748 01/08/2004 - Edition 1161. 
- Mancuso's testimony before the Supreme Court http://www.semana.com/noticias-justicia/testimonio-mancuso-ante-corte-suprema/137877.aspx Wednesday 21 April 2010.
10. In this connection see the article "40 Congressmen signed Autodefensas political commitment, Miguel de la Espriella recognized". Political Editorial, El Tiempo, November 27, 2006. http://www.eltiempo.com/archivo/documento/CMS -3342872
11. http://www.semana.com/noticias-enfoque/dicto-catedra-llamaba-licito-matar-comunistas-colombia/121251.aspx
12. Colombia's displaced alarm the United Nations, AFP, 4 May 2010. http://www.univision.com/content/content.jhtml?cid=2387332

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Author(s)

Stella Sacipa Rodríguez, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia.

Stella Sacipa Rodríguez is a professor at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia.

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