Perpetrator blocs, genocidal mentalities and geographies: the destruction of the Union Patriotica in Colombia and its lessons for genocide studies
2007; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 9; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/14623520701644440
ISSN1469-9494
Autores Tópico(s)Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics
ResumoClick to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Acknowledgements This contribution was discussed at postgraduate seminars at the University of Sussex throughout 2006. The author is particularly grateful to Professor Martin Shaw who provided him invaluable comments that helped him gain insight into genocidal practices in contemporary societies. Their discussions also strengthened his argument about the relationship between geography and genocide. The author would like to thank Kate Hallam, who patiently read early drafts and whose comments helped to structure the argument far more coherently, and Rebecca Napier-Moore, who read final drafts pointing out ways to make the argument more intelligible. Finally, the author is grateful to the British Council for providing him with the scholarship that funded his study at the University of Sussex during 2005–06. Notes 1. R. Lemkin, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe: Laws of Occupation, Analysis of Government, Proposal for Redress (New York: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1944), p 79. 2. See, for instance, E. D. Weitz, "The modernity of genocides. Race, war and revolution in the twentieth century," in R. Gellately and B. Kiernan, The Spectre of Genocide (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003). 3. See M. Shaw, War and Genocide (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2003). 4. See, for instance, Human Rights Watch, Slaughter among Neighbours (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995). 5. H. Fein, Genocide: A Sociological Perspective (London: Sage, 1993). 6. P. Van den Berghe, The Ethnic Phenomenon (New York: Elsevier North Holland, 1981), p 240. 7. Straus, cited in: M. Levene, Genocide in the Age of the Nation-State, Vol 1 (London: I. B. Tauris, 2005), p 87. 8. Term coined by B. Harff and T. R. Gurr, in Ethnic Conflict in World Politics, 2nd edn (Boulder: Westview Press, 1998). 9. S. Stein, "Geno- and other cides: a cautionary note on knowledge accumulation," Journal of Genocide Research, Vol 4, No 1, 2002, pp 39–63. 10. See M. Shaw, What is Genocide? (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2007). 11. La Violencia was the civil war that occurred in Colombia between the 1940s and the beginning of the 1960s. See G. Sanchez and D. Meertens, Bandoleros, Gamonales y Campesinos (Bogotá: El Ancora Editores, 1983). 12. A. Molano, Trochas y Fusiles (Bogotá: IEPRI-El Ancora Editores, 1994). 13. In the 7th FARC conference they decided to change their warfare from guerrilla politics to fight the army directly in order to overthrow the government. See M. Uribe and M. Deas, eds, Reconcer la Guerra para Construir la Paz (Bogotá: Uniandes, 1999). 14. See G. Sanchez, "De amnistías, guerras y negociaciones," in G. Sanchez, ed., Memoria de un País en Guerra (Bogotá: UNIJUS-Planeta-IEPRI, 2001). 15. N. Buenaventura, Unión Patriótica y Poder Popular (Bogotá: Ediciones CEIC, 1987). 16. See S. Dudley, Walking Ghosts: Murder and Guerrilla Politics in Colombia (New York: Routledge, 2004). 17. These were small groups of political activity that formed the nucleus of UP strategy to gain the masses' support. 18. The M-19 was another guerrilla group created in 1970. At the Palace of Justice massacre in 1985 "the army had pursued some members of the M-19 all the way to the hospital to kill them. Innocent Palace of Justice employees also simply 'disappeared'." Dudley, Walking Ghosts, p 84. 19. Dudley also raises this argument. Ibid, p 84. 20. See C. Velez, Estudio sobre un Movimiento de Oposición Política en Colombia: Auge y Decadencia de la Unión Patriótica 1986–1990, thesis (Bogotá: University of los Andes, 1992). 21. Dudley, Walking Ghosts, p 102. 22. See Jaramillo interview with Harnecker, in M. Harnecker, Entrevista con la Nueva Izquierda (Managua: Centro de Documetación y Ediciones Latinoamericanas, 1989). 23. See Velez, Estudio sobre. 24. These practices are thoroughly discussed in I. Cepeda and C. Girón, "La segregación de las víctimas de la violencia política," in A. Rettberg, ed., Entre el Perdón y el Paredón: Preguntas y Dilemas de la Justicia Transicional (Bogotá: IDRC-UNIANDES-CESO, 2005). 25. For a complete description of the Segovia massacre see Amnesty International, Segovia—A Recurring History of Serious Human Rights Violations, http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR230611996?openandof=ENG-394 (accessed July 27, 2006). 26. Armed forces refers to the police, army and security agencies dependent on the Colombian State. 27. For an understanding of US' policies throughout Latin America during the Cold War see P. Smith, Talons of the Eagle: Dynamics of U.S.-Latin American Relations (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996). 28. J. Giraldo, Colombia: The Genocidal Democracy (Monroe: Common Courage Press, 1996), p 10. 29. The "political cleansing" in the Middle Magdalena Valley is explained in: C. Medina, Autodefensas, Paramilitares y Narcotráfico en Colombia (Bogotá: Editorial Documentos Periodísticos, 1990). 30. M. Romero, Paramilitares y Autodefensas 1982–2003 (Bogotá: IEPRI, 2003), pp 193–221. 31. Medina, Autodefensas, pp 170–186. 32. T. Barta, "Relations of genocide: land and lives in the colonization of Australia," in I. Wallimann and M. Dobkowski, Genocide and the Modern Age (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1987), p 241. 33. N. Richani, Systems of Violence: The Political Economy of War and Peace in Colombia (New York: State University of New York Press, 2002), p 104. 34. See M. Aranguren, Mi Confesión: Carlos Castaño Revela sus Secretos (Bogotá: Oveja Negra, 2001). 35. Medina, Autodefensas, p 173. 36. Dudley, Walking Ghosts, p 76. 37. See Inter-American Commission for Human Rights, Second Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Colombia (Washington, DC: ICHR, 1993), Chapter II. 38. Romero, Paramilitares y Autodefensas, p 41. 39. During this period Fidel Castaño's paramilitary group, MRN, in conjunction with the army, developed a programme of systematic persecution against anybody considered to be a UP sympathizer in Cordoba and Antioquia provinces. See Aranguren, Mi Confesión, pp 98–99. 40. Without doubt the recent decision by Chiquita Brands International to plead guilty to its ties to paramilitaries in Colombia during 1997 and 2004 will allow us in the future to understand the role that international companies play in genocidal processes. It will also help us to see how they sometimes (un)consciously adhere to violent rules imposed by the perpetrators in order to fulfil their economic interests in spaces where a genocidal mentality has emerged producing genocide. For Chiquita's judicial case see http://money.cnn.com/2007/03/14/news/companies/chiquita/index.htm (March 23, 2007). 41. Dudley, Walking Ghosts, p 97. 42. Aranguren, Mi Confesión, p 99. 43. See Richani, Systems of Violence. 44. Medina, Autodefensas, pp 195–232. 45. G. O'Tuathail, Critical Geopolitics (London: Routledge, 1996), p 54. 46. J. Arquila and D. Ronfeldt, Networks and Netwars (Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2001). 47. H. Arendt, "Eichmann in Jerusalem," in A. L. Hinton, ed., Genocide: An Anthropological Reader (Oxford: Blackwell, 2002); V. N. Dadrian, The Methodological Components of the Study of Genocide as a Sociological Problem: The Armenian Case (Cambridge, MA: Armenian Heritage Press, 1972); F. Chalk, "Redefining genocide," in G. J. Andreopoulos, Genocide: Conceptual and Historical Dimensions (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994), and also I. Horowitz, Taking Lives (New Brunswick: Transaction, 1997). 48. On privatization of violence see M. Kaldor, New and Old Wars (Cambridge: Polity, 1999). 49. See, for instance, Z. Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust (Cambridge: Polity, 1989). 50. Levene, Genocide in the Age of the Nation-State. Cf. also M. Mann, The Dark Side of Democracy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005). 51. F. Chalk and K. Jonassohn, The History and Sociology of Genocide (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990), pp 24–26. 52. This is a crucial point raised recently by Mann, The Dark Side of Democracy, pp 26–30. 53. M. Foucault, Society Must Be Defended (London: Penguin, 2003), p 29. 54. Arquila and Ronfeldt, Networks and Netwars, p 9. 55. I borrow this concept from Networks theories. See ibid, p 8. 56. This is not to say that the state is not to be prosecuted by the crime of genocide. On the contrary, its responsibility is twofold because it orchestrates the actions and it omits the protection of the victims, which is its entire responsibility. 57. This point is emphasized in recent research. Mann, for instance, argues that "[m]urderous cleansing is rarely the initial intent of perpetrators." Mann, The Dark Side of Democracy, p 7. 58. Despite some problems associated with structural approaches to genocide (Chalk, "Redefining genocide"), two convincing developments bring us closer to these approaches. First, new interdisciplinary approaches have shown that genocide can be better understood by "exploring how the dynamics of mass violence are influenced by local understandings and socio-cultural dynamics." A. L. Hinton, ed., Genocide, p 16. Second, as M. Shaw, What is Genocide?, p 13 demonstrates, structural perspectives are better at producing responses to prevent and halt genocide, because it enables us to "recognize the complexity of the variable and changing circumstances in which destructive policies are pursed against civilian populations." 59. O. Bartov, "Seeking the roots of modern genocide," in R. Gellately and B. Kiernan, eds, The Spectre of Genocide (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003), p 92. 60. For scholars considering the intent criterion irrelevant see I. W. Charny, "Toward a generic definition of genocide," in G. J. Andreopoulos, Genocide: Conceptual and Historical Dimensions (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994). 61. I borrow this concept from Lifton and Markusen's discussion of the nuclear threat in the Cold War period. See R. Lifton and E. Markusen, The Genocidal Mentality (London: Macmillan, 1991), p 3. 62. For republican wars in the nineteenth century in Colombia see G. Sanchez, Guerra y Política en la Sociedad Colombiana (Bogotá: El Áncora editores, 1991). 63. Other scholars argue that there is a multiplicity of violence in this period. See G. Sanchez, "Introduction: problems of violence, prospects for peace," in C. Bergquist, R. Peñaranda and G. Sanchez, Violence in Colombia 1990–2000 (Wilmington: SR Books, 2001). 64. Regarding how NSD is intertwined with the Dirty War in Latin America, in particular Argentina, see G. Levy, "Considerations on the connections between race, politics, economics, and genocide," Journal of Genocide Research, Vol 8, No 2, 2006, pp 137–148. 65. Levy, "Considerations," p 142 (emphasis in original). 66. See Dudley, Walking Ghosts. 67. Aranguren, Mi Confesión, p 65. 68. Giraldo, Colombia: The Genocidal Democracy, p 69. 69. D. Pécaut, Guerra contra la Sociedad (Bogotá: Espasa Hoy, 2001). 70. One of the most influential books in genocide studies already discussed this. See L. Kuper, Genocide: Its Political Use in the Twentieth Century (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981). 71. He pins down this relationship as follows: "First, war produces widespread psychological and social disequilibrium […] Second, governments engaged in total war […] tend to become more centralized, secret, and powerful […]. Third, the government at war can utilize the military forces for the perpetration of genocide. Fourth […] conditions of war significantly increase […] the vulnerability of the governmentally targeted victim groups […]. Finally, […] modern war creates a climate of moral and psychological […] desensitisation that increases popular tolerance of cruelty." E. Markusen, "Genocide and warfare," in C. Strozier and M. Flynn, Genocide, War and Human Survival (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 1996), pp 78–79. 72. Shaw, War and Genocide, p 45. 73. Ibid (emphasis in original). 74. Shaw, What is Genocide?, p 112. 75. The relation between social crisis and genocide has been thoroughly discussed in Melson's comparative study between the Armenian genocide and the Holocaust. See R. Melson, Revolution and Genocide (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1991). 76. Shaw, War and Genocide, p 44 (emphasis in original). 77. For a complete description of the plans against the UP see J. Quiroga, "La Unión Patriótica: el exterminio de una esperanza," in Memorias: Seminario Taller. Grupo de Trabajo que Propende por la Busqueda de una Solucion Amistosa en el Caso de la Unión Patriotica que se Adelanta ante la Comision Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (Bogotá: Procuraduia General de la Nacion—Embajada de Suiza, 2003), pp 137–138. 78. H. Rae, State Identities and Homogenization of Peoples (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002). 79. C. Tilly, Coercion, Capital, and European States AD 990–1992 (Malden: Blackwell, 1992). 80. Michael Mann's Dark Side of Democracy is very useful in tracing the path of state-building through the use of murderous means within the uneven development of modern states. 81. Hinton, ed., Genocide, p 18. 82. Critical scholars consider the armed conflict as part of the state-building process in Colombia. See, for instance: I. Bolivar, Violencia Política y Formación del Estado (Bogotá: CINEP-CESO-UNIANDES, 2003). 83. Rae, State Identities, p 5. 84. Shaw, The Concept of Genocide (draft version of "What is genocide?"), p 66 (emphasis in original). 85. M. Mann, The Colonial Dark Side of Democracy (First Press, 2001), www.theglobalsite.ac.uk/press/103mann.pdf (accessed on August 25, 2006). 86. Foucault, Society Must Be Defended. 87. I. Wallimann and M. Dobkowski, Genocide and the Modern Age (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2000), pp ix–xxiv. 88. Some geographers argue that "the social construction of territory is the complex outcome of a socio-spatial dialect." See M. Dear and J. Wolch, "How territory shapes social life," in J. Wolch and M. Dear, eds, The Power of Geography (Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1989), p 11. 89. O'Tuathail, Critical Geopolitics, pp 1–2. 90. Geo-power must be understood as "the functioning of geographical knowledge not as an innocent body of knowledge and learning but as an ensemble of technologies of power concerned with the governmental production and management of territorial space." O'Tuathail, Critical Geopolitics, p 7. 91. Ibid, pp 14–15. 92. M. Jones et al., An Introduction to Political Geography: Space, Place and Politics (London: Routledge, 2004), p 5. 93. Agnew correctly points out that "Spatial practices of everyday life have maintained a place-specificity that defies" such an assumption. See J. Agnew and S. Corbridge, Mastering Space: Hegemony, Territory and International Relations (London: Routledge, 1995), p 15. 94. O'Tuathail, Critical Geopolitics, p 54. 95. For a discussion on this point see J. Pearce, Beyond the Perimeter Fence: Oil and Armed Conflict in Casanare Colombia, at www.lse.ac.uk/Depts/global/Publications/DiscussionPapers/DP32_BeyondthePerimeterFence.pdf 2004 (accessed on March 25, 2007). 96. For victims' testimonies on these genocidal practices see the psycho-social work carried on by Fundación Dos Mundos, Proyecto de Acompañamiento para la Reconstrucción de la Memoria y la Reparación Integral desde una Perspectiva Psicocial y de Derechos—Huérfanos y Familiares de Víctimas de la Unión Patriótica, Documento Preliminar, Bogotá, 2006. 97. Asociación de Familiares de Detenidos-Desaparecidos (ASFADDES), Veinte Años de Historia y Lucha (Bogotá: ASFADDES, 2003). 98. Fundación Dos Mundos, p 7. 99. See G. O'Tuathail et al., The Geopolitical Reader (London: Routledge, 1998). 100. Quiroga, "La Unión Patriótica," p 141. 101. It is important to note that other victims' organisations, such as the Fundción Mannel Cepeda, have also played a central role in documenting and raising national and international awareness of the UP genocide. 102. Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, Report 5/97, On admissibility Case 11.227 Colombia (Washington, DC: ICHR, 1997), Art. 25.
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