CIAO DATE: 01/03

Colombia’s War: Toward a New Strategy

Abstract

American policy toward Colombia is being challenged by an altered political and security atmosphere inside each country. Colombia’s new president, Alvaro Uribe, is confronting the growing threat to his administration’s ability to govern and control national territory. A protracted internal war that involves a complex assortment of illegal armies, paramilitary forces, and symbiotic narcotics traffickers poses a significant threat to Colombian democracy.

The Colombian crisis has long-term implications for U.S. and hemispheric security as a test of American resolve to help restore stability and establish legitimate authority over large areas of the Andean region where criminal and terrorist networks have deep roots. Washington can no longer deal only with the symptoms of Colombia’s problem and seems to be signaling deeper involvement.

The U.S.-Colombian partnership needs a shared, overarching, and cohesive purpose that does not view Colombia’s war primarily through the prism of suppressing drug trafficking and terrorism. A new, integrated U.S.-Colombian campaign plan that seeks to enhance public security, governance, defense relations, and community development, as well as bring about a political settlement, could best advance the interests of both countries and would mark an important turning point in strengthening both Colombian and regional security.

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