Essay On Colombian Violence

Colombia violence has dated back many years and continues to this day. The traditional use for violence was meant to accomplish personal or political ends has evidently set an example which unfortunately some Colombians continue to follow to this day (Osterling 261). It is a characteristic embedded in Colombian society and political culture and it poses some of the most difficult challenges to the country’s democratic institutions. Violence is defined as the use of physical force or the threat of force to injure or harm someone to deprive others of their rights and/or intimidate them (Osterling 261).
The three major categories of crime are crime, guerilla activities and the brutal acts often committed by narcotics traffickers. Violence until
La Violencia, was a ten-year war from 1948-1958 that was between dominant political party’s liberals and conservatives. The war resulted in over 100,000 deaths (clifft 1). In 1958, the two parties agreed to share political power in the National front. The National Front consolidated power in the hands of Colombia’s political elite who began using their power to appropriate the land-holding rights of Colombia’s rural poor and to restrict these individuals from defending themselves through legitimate democratic structures. rise in the 1960s to several revolutionary groups dedicated to overthrowing Colombia’s developing “agro-elite” and restoring land rights to the alienated economic minorities. Chief among such groups was the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which was formed upon and fought for primarily Marxist ideals including the eradication of “rural inequality” and the creation of “an equitable rural society when they first formed.” The FARC was one of the largest and most successful guerilla groups to oppose the Colombian government, and understood by many to be the face of the revolutionary and guerilla forces throughout the duration of Colombia’s