Colombian Caribbean Region: between peacebuilding and the persistence of conflict

Abstract

Four of the 16 sub-regions prioritized for the implementation of Territorial Approach Development Programs (PDET) are located in the Colombian Caribbean region. PDET arose from the Peace Agreement signed between the Colombian Government and the former armed group FARC in order to transform the conditions of the territories that were victims of the armed conflict. However, some of these sub-regions still show expressions of armed violence that could impede the achievement of territorial peace and, on the contrary, could contribute to perpetuate these conditions of war. This paper attempts to analyze these four subregions from a comparative study through three analysis variables: presence of illegal rents, presence of armed actors and degree of affectation derived from the armed conflict, all during the January-September period of 2018. The authors found that although subregions such as Sierra Nevada-Perijá and Montes de María do not face important problems of violence, there are challenges of consensual nature that may delay and even sabotage the implementation of PDET. For their part, the southern subregions of Córdoba and southern Bolívar have fewer consensual challenges, but a panorama of violence that would make it even more complex to move towards post-conflict due to the presence of actors who will seek to sabotage the process (Clan del Golfo, Los Caparrapos and Disidents from FARC armed group)