Paramilitary Demobilization and the Return of Violence in Colombia

Abstract

This chapter deals with the demobilization process of the Colombian paramilitary groups, begun in 2003 by the government of Alvaro Uribe Vélez and ending in early 2006 with the disarmament of more than 31,000 fighters. After describing the short term effects of the process—a general decrease in the level of violence and a reduction in the number of human rights violations—the author seeks to explain the difficulties that are beginning to appear and undermine the long-term process. Various hypotheses are considered: the “warrior habitus” of the paramilitaries, which renders them incapable of other than war-like activity and a “brutalization” of Colombian society. The author believes that it is the permanent presence of narco traffic networks in Colombia that explains the creation of new armed groups and the restructuring of old ones; furthermore, that the failure of the DDR process is evidence of the infiltration of Colombian society and its political system by paramilitaries.