Plan Colombia and Beyond

That's some good reading, it'll take a while before I can digest all the information.

For now, I can say that Leech's La Macarena piece is informative and valuable, despite some statements I'd disagree with (or, more precisely, I'd only be in partial agreement).

In the end, Leech reaches basically the same conclusion that several of us posting and commenting here have agreed with, but it'd be nice to hear something more concrete, now that this case is brought into light. The general criticism is quite clear, but that's where the specifics must come in.

If, for reasons that have already been explained, the peasants of La Macarena are much more likely to trust the FARC than the government and are so closely linked, then I don't see how they will want (or the FARC will ever think of letting them consider the possibility) to allow the government any leeway.

Even if officials came to La Macarena with development projects hand in hand, and only a small military presence, the FARC will likely either sabotage those efforts (with more mines, snipers, grossly barbaric booby traps, etc.) or simply advise the population to retreat from the Park (or they will leave on their own early on).

I don't think that the FARC would sit still and let the government build roads, water supplies, power lines, schools and so on, nor that the population would be willing to give the government a chance to do so.

Let's not also forget the fact that building such things in the Park would be ecologically harmful, even if socially beneficial. There's a huge Catch 22 here.

We can all agree, in essence, that current policy isn't working, but the finer details of an alternative proposal for complex cases such as La Macarena aren't entirely clear either.

Thanks for pointing these docs out.

The IBLF report contains some howlers, but is overall a progressive document, considering it is oriented toward a corporate audience (the proposed business model would have a positive HR impact if followed). Funded by Coca-cola, which is somewhere between penance and outrageous hypocrisy.

Regarding INDEPAZ report on demobilization, especially:

"La capacitación de introducción, atención psicosocial y capacitación laboral están desenfocadas."

This may be true at a general level, but I have met with some psychologists who are doing a good job, concientious, deeply committed, working 12 hour days, 7 days a week, and so on. Too bad they don't get any recognition.

"El Zar de la Reinserción no soluciona la descoordinación por falta de capacidad decisoria en caos actual."

I don't know whether to confirm or debunk this. Among the desmovilizados I have talked with he is considered someone highly accessible, always answers his cell phone, meets personally with desmovilizados frequently, and so on, but someone who ultimately has done little economically for the *individually* demobilized (in favor of colectivos) . I had a chance to chit chat with the outgoing "Zar." He seemed to me to fit the profile of a shmoozing politician, but I remain impressed that he gave so much face time to so many individually demobilized ex-combatants. Many of these guys talk about him as though he were an old friend (perhaps a difficult friend, but friend nonetheless).

Let's hope the new Zar, Frank Pearl, is as friendly and more focused and organized. I get the impression he will be a better planner at the macro level.

“El Estado no ha construido herramientas que permitan definir si la población desmovilizada realmente se encuentra reincorporada a la vida social y económica del país” (DNP)

Again, this may be true, but my visits to two Bogota CROs (Centers of Attention to Reinserted Ex Combatants) gave me the impression that the MoI is doing a reasonable job of keeping tabs on these guys, including close monitoring of tensions between ex-combatants and host families. The DNP statement may be referring primarily to colectivos, with whom I have no experience.

As for the other documents, I'll let jcg do the talking.

PS- The link to the IAED doc appears to be broken.

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