tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/colombia-7843/articlesColombia – The Conversation2024-03-14T17:19:19Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2253052024-03-14T17:19:19Z2024-03-14T17:19:19ZThe sunken treasure of the San José shipwreck is contested – but its real riches go beyond coins and jewels<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580446/original/file-20240307-24-bvn0iu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1882%2C1322&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Wager's Action off Cartagena, 28 May 1708 by Samuel Scott (1772), a painting showing the moment the San José was blown up. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/11840.html">National Maritime Museum</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The San José was a galleon ship owned by King Philip V of Spain (1683–1746) in the 18th century. It sailed from Portobelo in present-day Panama to Cartagena in Colombia in 1708. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/9342/treasure-san-jose">The ship was sunk</a> – still laden with treasure including 11 million gold and silver coins, emeralds and other precious cargo – during the Battle of Barú (also known as Wager’s Action), part of the War of the Spanish Succession. This war was between Spain and France on one side, and Britain, the Holy Roman Empire, the Dutch Republic and other European allies on the other. </p>
<p>The search for the San José and its treasure, sunk 600 metres deep, has now become possible thanks to advances in remotely operated underwater vehicle technology. The ship is now in the process of being <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/colombia-san-jose-shipwreck-treasure-b2503667.html">pulled up from the sea floor</a>. But who is entitled to San José’s riches?</p>
<p>In 1979, the US salvage company Sea Search Armada made an exclusive agreement with Colombia to divide the proceeds of the San José 50:50. They had bought out the Glocca Morra Company which discovered what was thought to be the wreck of the San José in 1982. </p>
<p>In 2007, the US Supreme Court ruled that Colombia holds the rights to items deemed to be “national cultural patrimony”. Anything else will be halved between the US salvage company Sea Search Armada and Colombia. Ownership of each item would probably have to be <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jul/07/sibyllabrodzinsky.international">decided by independent experts</a>.</p>
<p>However, in 2015, Colombia’s president, Juan Manuel Santos, <a href="https://twitter.com/JuanManSantos/status/672925619278249984?lang=en-gb">challenged the location</a> Sea Search Armada’s suspected held the San José wreck. He confirmed that the San José’s true location had been found by the Colombian navy – with the help of British maritime archaeology consultants and the US Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution – in Colombian waters.</p>
<p>Spain and Peru have <a href="https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2023/11/08/spain-lays-claim-to-holy-grail-of-shipwrecks-galleon-which-sank-more-than-300-years-ago-contains-up-to-e18bn-in-treasure/">also claimed ownership</a>, since the San José was a Spanish ship carrying wealth created by enslaved indigenous Peruvian workers. The descendants of the indigenous Bolivian Qhara Qhara people and enslaved African workers in New Granada, who were forced to mine precious metals, have <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/colombia-san-jose-shipwreck-treasure-b2503667.html">also made a claim</a>.</p>
<p>Spain colonised Colombia, Peru and Bolivia after Christopher Columbus reached America in 1492. The 1494 <a href="https://en.unesco.org/memoryoftheworld/registry/613#:%7E:text=The%20Treaty%20of%20Tordesillas%20of,west%20of%20Cape%20Verde%20islands.">Treaty of Tordesillas</a> divided the new territory between Spain and Portugal. This resulted in the destruction of indigenous culture, seizure of natural assets and exploitation of inhabitants and enslaved African people. Part of San José’s wealth should therefore surely be reserved to create a cultural legacy that would beneficially balance that harmful past.</p>
<p>Research to discover how the San José was built by its Spanish shipbuilders and find out about the crew and the local communities in Colombia and Bolivia <a href="https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/9342/treasure-san-jose">is feasible</a>. Documents survive in the archives of the Casa de Contratación de las Indias (Trading House of the Indies), the National Archives of Spain and Lima and Spanish dockyard and shipbuilding archives. Oral history could reveal community folk stories and passed down memories.</p>
<p>The experience of recovering, conserving and interpreting the Tudor ship, the Mary Rose, which sunk in 1545 and was brought up from the seabed in 1982, is a superb example of what could be done with the San José. Scientific analysis of the wreck and remains could determine where the crew came from. <a href="https://maryrose.org/blog/fundraising/the-mary-rose/ccixr/">As with the Mary Rose</a>, new technology could be used to bring those stories to new audiences. </p>
<h2>San José’s loss and legacy</h2>
<p>In an <a href="https://www.bbc.com/reel/playlist/hidden-histories?vpid=p0gkkdhc">excellent film</a> analysing the context of the San José’s loss, and exploring its underwater remains, nautical archaeologist Professor Ricardo Borrero argues that the ship’s “real value is its historical value and its potential to deliver a lot of information if we ask the proper questions”.</p>
<p>Juan David Correa, Colombia’s minister of culture, also insists that the value of the wreck is patrimonial and not monetary, saying <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/shipwreck-colombia-san-jose-treasure-b2502029.html">“history is the treasure”</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Underwater images of the San José.</span></figcaption>
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<p>In 2024 Colombian archaeologist <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/shipwreck-colombia-san-jose-treasure-b2502029.html">Carlos Reina Martínez</a> said the Colombian Institute of Archeology and History is seeking to discover what life was like for the 600 people on board the San José when it sank. They also wish to study daily life, the cargo, artillery and merchandise of the colonial era in America. Colombia will invest US$4.5 million (£3.5 million) to recover the ship and its contents and conserve them.</p>
<p>The proposed Colombian investigation is inspired by the University of Portsmouth Arts and Humanities Research Council Project <a href="https://historicengland.org.uk/research/current/discover-and-understand/coastal-and-marine/unpathd-waters/">Unpath’d Waters</a>, which I am a part of. Our research into the British HMS Looe, shipwrecked in 1705, has revealed that its twice-yearly Newfoundland convoys were vital to British global goals during the War of Spanish Succession. </p>
<p>Unpath’d Waters seeks to connect dispersed historical collections to bring new stories to new audiences. Inspired by our work, the recovery and restoration of the San José could also connect its many stories – the Spanish shipbuilders, the craftspeople, the 600 passengers and crew and their descendants. But will their voices be heard? It will take a concerted effort from teams around the world, not a power struggle, to ensure that they are.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ann Coats is the University of Portsmouth Co-Investigator in Unpath'd Waters, the Historic England-led Arts and Humanities Research Council 'Towards the National Collection' Project..
The University of Portsmouth has received funding for Unpath'd Waters from the Arts and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p>The boat was sunk while still laden with treasure including 11 million gold and silver coins, emeralds and other precious cargo.Ann Coats, Associate Professor in Maritime History, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2254222024-03-13T12:41:26Z2024-03-13T12:41:26ZWhat is the Darien Gap? And why are more migrants risking this Latin American route to get to the US?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581331/original/file-20240312-22-hvlt6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C140%2C3347%2C2084&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Migrants wade through the Tuquesa River as they traverse the Darien Gap.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PanamaMigrants/2c51a3fc202e44459d50d668897f80eb/photo?Query=Darien%20Gap&mediaType=photo&sortBy=creationdatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=288&currentItemNo=62">AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Much of the discussion over illegal immigration to the U.S. has in recent weeks <a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-latin-america-venezuela-ukraine-mexico-712d00c90114568fe8a1b5c9e26fdadd">moved its focus south to the Darien Gap</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>This treacherous route that spans parts of Central and South America has seen an increasing number of people attempting to pass on their way to claiming asylum in the U.S.</em></p>
<p><em>To explore the reasons why, The Conversation turned to Sara McKinnon, an <a href="https://commarts.wisc.edu/staff/mckinnon-sara/">immigration scholar at University of Wisconsin-Madison</a>, who knows the region well and has interviewed people who have traversed the jungle crossing.</em></p>
<h2>Where is the Darien Gap?</h2>
<p>The Darien Gap is a stretch of densely forested jungle across northern Colombia and southern Panama. Roughly 60 miles (97 kilometers) across, the terrain is muddy, wet and unstable.</p>
<p><iframe id="QA5lJ" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/QA5lJ/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>No paved roads exist in the Darien Gap. Yet despite this, it has become a major route for global human migration.</p>
<p>Depending on how much they can pay, people must walk anywhere from <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/dari%C3%A9n-gap-migration-crossroads">four to 10 days</a> up and down mountains, over fast-flowing rivers and through mud, carrying everything they have – and often carrying children who are too young to walk – to make it through the pass. Those who make it through then take buses through most of Central America and make their way north through Mexico to the U.S. border zone.</p>
<p>Cellphone service stops once people enter the dense forest; migrants rely on the paid “guides” and fellow migrants to make it through. </p>
<p>In the decade prior to 2021, <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/dari%C3%A9n-gap-migration-crossroads">10,000 people annually</a> took this route on their way north to seek residence in the United States and Canada. </p>
<p>Then, in 2021, the Panamanian government documented <a href="https://www.iom.int/news/number-migrants-who-embarked-dangerous-darien-gap-route-nearly-doubled-2022">133,000 crossings</a>, a dramatic increase in human movement in such a volatile stretch of land. In 2023, more than <a href="https://www.datosabiertos.gob.pa/dataset/migracion-irregulares-en-transito-por-darien-por-pais-2023">half a million people</a> transited through this part of the Isthmus of Panama.</p>
<h2>Why is it so dangerous?</h2>
<p>The route, and really the entire trajectory that people take when they migrate from South America to North America, is controlled by criminal organizations that <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/immigration-crisis-migrant-smuggling-darien-gap-cfb40940">make millions, if not billions of dollars</a>, annually in the human migration economy.</p>
<p>It is impossible to cross this stretch of land without the help of a smuggler, or guide, because the criminal organizations who control the territory demand payment for passage.</p>
<p>Payment does not, however, assure safe passage. Sometimes the very people paid to facilitate the journey extort migrants for more money. There are also <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/latin-america-caribbean/andes/colombia-central-america/102-bottleneck-americas-crime-and-migration">reports of armed groups</a> ambushing those in transit to seize their belongings and steal what money they may have stowed away and sewn into clothing seams.</p>
<p>Extortion and kidnapping are common occurrences, and the medical aid charity Doctors Without Borders recently reported a surge in instances of <a href="https://www.msf.org/lack-action-sees-sharp-rise-sexual-violence-people-transiting-darien-gap-panama">mass sexual assault</a> in which hundreds of people have been captured, assaulted and raped – often in front of family members. In December 2023, one person was sexually assaulted <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/feb/05/darien-gap-sexual-attacks-panama-colombia-migrants">every 3½ hours</a> while crossing, according to Doctors Without Borders.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.cfr.org/article/crossing-darien-gap-migrants-risk-death-journey-us">extreme nature of the swamplike jungle</a> also makes the journey dangerous.</p>
<p>The paths can be very muddy, especially in the rainy season. In mountainous sections, it is often necessary to climb over steep rocks, or cling to a rope to not slip and fall off a cliff. </p>
<p>The Missing Migrant Project reported <a href="https://missingmigrants.iom.int/sites/g/files/tmzbdl601/files/publication/file/MMP%20Americas%20briefing%202022%20-%20ES_3.pdf">141 known deaths</a> in the Darien Gap in 2023, which is likely a fraction of the actual number due to the challenges in reporting and recovering bodies.</p>
<p>Many of the people I interviewed who had made the journey talked about seeing bodies along the path covered in mud, likely the result of slipping or falling to their death. </p>
<p>Fellow migrants left markers close to the bodies, such as pieces of fabric tied to a tree, and took photos of the dead in the hopes that this evidence might someday help recover the bodies.</p>
<p>The rivers are also dangerous. Flash floods and rushing rapids mean that many people are swept away and drown in the muddy waters. Bruises, cuts, animal bites and fractures are common. The high humidity and heat each day, combined with a lack of clean drinking water, mean that many fall sick with symptoms of severe dehydration. </p>
<p>Vector-borne, water-borne and fungal-related illnesses are <a href="https://www.unocha.org/news/migration-through-darien-jungle-7-things-know-about-perilous-trek">also quite common</a>.</p>
<h2>What is behind the recent surge in crossings?</h2>
<p>Violence, insecurity and instability in their home countries cause many people to move. They may move to elsewhere in their region. But when the level of violence and insecurity is similar in that country, they keep moving to find a safer place to live.</p>
<p>Options for legally allowed immigration are increasingly limited for those in low-income countries. For example, when governments implement travel visa restrictions for certain nationalities, it impacts the options available to the people of that country for movement. </p>
<p>In 2021, with pressure from the United States, Mexico started requiring <a href="https://www.wola.org/analysis/mexico-restrictive-visa-policy-limits-venezuelans-ability-flee-us/">Venezuelans traveling to Mexico to carry travel visas</a>. This meant that Venezuelans hoping to seek asylum in the United States could no longer first fly to Mexico as a tourist and then present themselves at the border to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent to express their fear of returning to their home country.</p>
<p>Venezuelans had to find another route to move, and for many, that was and continues to be irregular transit through the Darien Gap without travel documents. </p>
<h2>Who is making the journey?</h2>
<p>In 2023, of the 520,085 people who moved through the region, <a href="https://www.migracion.gob.pa/images/img2023/pdf/IRREGULARES_X_DARIEN_2023.pdf">Venezuelans counted for over half at 328,650</a>. But the total also included 56,422 Haitians, 25,565 Chinese, 4,267 Afghans, 2,252 Nepali, 1,636 Cameroonians and 1,124 Angolans.</p>
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<img alt="A child is hoisted onto an adult's shoulders as a woman and man wade through water." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581334/original/file-20240312-28-i0czkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581334/original/file-20240312-28-i0czkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581334/original/file-20240312-28-i0czkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581334/original/file-20240312-28-i0czkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581334/original/file-20240312-28-i0czkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581334/original/file-20240312-28-i0czkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581334/original/file-20240312-28-i0czkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Haitian migrants wade through water as they cross the Darien Gap.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/YEMigration/4294f14f09a24ca0beeba0b14dc0120f/photo?Query=Darien%20Gap&mediaType=photo&sortBy=creationdatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=288&currentItemNo=95">AP Photo/Ivan Valencia</a></span>
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<p>Human migration in the Americas is a global phenomenon.</p>
<p>It is also increasingly gender and age diverse, as <a href="https://www.migracion.gob.pa/images/img2023/pdf/IRREGULARES_X_DARIEN_2023.pdf">figures from the Panamanian government</a> show. Adult men made up just over half of those moving through the Darien Gap in 2023, and adult women counted for 26% of the population. </p>
<p>Children under 18 constituted 20% of those crossing, with half of those children under the age of 5. Parents may be carrying children for long stretches of the journey, or children may have to walk even though they are tired. The stress and fatigue add to the likelihood of injury along the way. </p>
<h2>How have authorities responded?</h2>
<p>The travel visa restrictions of many governments has only pushed more people to attempt this dangerous route. Governments have also been lukewarm to the presence of humanitarian groups who assist migrants in transit. On March 7, 2024, <a href="https://www.msf.org/msf-forced-suspend-medical-care-people-move-panama">Doctors Without Borders reported</a> that the Panamanian government would no longer permit the organization to provide medical support to those in transit through the Darien Gap. This reduced access to health care will certainly mean a more dangerous passage.</p>
<p>In May 2022, countries across the Americas jointly announced the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/06/10/fact-sheet-the-los-angeles-declaration-on-migration-and-protection-u-s-government-and-foreign-partner-deliverables/">Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection </a> to improve regional coordination to manage migration.</p>
<p>Through this, the U.S. government implemented a series of <a href="https://migrationamericas.commarts.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2087/2023/09/MIAP-Policy-Report-0923-1.pdf">new legal programs to move to the U.S.</a> and <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2023/04/27/fact-sheet-us-government-announces-sweeping-new-actions-manage-regional-migration">application processing offices</a> in South American and Central American countries that give people the opportunity to apply for U.S. refugee resettlement, humanitarian parole and family reunification, and have the visas processed while waiting abroad. </p>
<p>But these programs are not available to people of all nationalities. And some of the programs also require official documents like passports, a requirement that excludes many of those who make their way through the Darien Gap.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225422/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sara McKinnon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>More than half a million people made the treacherous crossing in 2023 – far higher than in previous years.Sara McKinnon, Professor of Rhetoric, Politics & Culture, University of Wisconsin-MadisonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2230532024-02-08T13:38:04Z2024-02-08T13:38:04ZAmericans spend millions of dollars on Valentine’s Day roses. I calculated exactly how much<p>Feb. 14 is Valentine’s Day – an occasion that traditionally combines romance with big business. One of the biggest businesses is selling roses, which Americans increasingly love. Back in 1989, about 1 billion cut roses were sold annually in the U.S. By 2023, that had risen to roughly 2.8 billion – enough to give <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/08/united-states-adult-population-grew-faster-than-nations-total-population-from-2010-to-2020.html">every adult in the country</a> a bouquet of 10. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.bu.edu/questrom/">business school</a> professor who studies the <a href="http://businessmacroeconomics.com/">economic impact</a> of holidays, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jay-zagorsky-58a90825a/">I wondered</a> how much money Americans spend on roses each year while I was standing in line with two dozen red and pink ones for my sweetheart. </p>
<p>It’s not easy to find out. The National Retail Federation estimates <a href="https://nrf.com/media-center/press-releases/valentines-day-spending-significant-others-reach-new-record-nrf-survey">people will spend US$2.6 billion on Valentine’s Day flowers</a>, but that includes everything from azaleas to zinnias. The Society of American Florists says that <a href="https://safnow.org/aboutflowers/holidays-occasions/valentines-day/valentines-day-floral-statistics/">250 million roses</a> are produced for the holiday, but it doesn’t estimate spending.</p>
<p>So I decided to investigate. And what I found was surprising: The roses in my hand were tied to the war on illegal drugs.</p>
<h2>Where are those roses coming from?</h2>
<p>Roses sold in the U.S. were once largely homegrown but are now <a href="https://dataweb.usitc.gov/">mainly imported</a> from South America. To learn more, I turned to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which for decades has tracked the number of domestic farms and nurseries selling cut roses. These farms are different from nurseries growing rose bushes sold in pots to landscapers and gardeners.</p>
<p>Back in 1970, there were <a href="https://agcensus.library.cornell.edu/wp-content/uploads/1969-Horticultural_Specialties-U.S._TABLES-660-Table-05.pdf">almost 800 U.S. commercial farms</a> and nurseries growing cut roses. U.S. cut-rose growers were powerhouses, selling almost half a billion roses annually.</p>
<p>But since the 1970s, American cut-rose growers have withered away. The USDA’s latest <a href="https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2017/Online_Resources/Census_of_Horticulture_Specialties/hortic_1_0013_0013.pdf">Census of Horticultural Specialties</a> found about 110 farms and nurseries growing cut roses. These farms harvested only about 18 million roses, which is quite a comedown over 50 years.</p>
<p>So <a href="https://aei.ag/2022/02/14/valentines-flower-imports-trends/">where are roses coming from now</a>? In 2023, the <a href="https://dataweb.usitc.gov/">U.S. imported</a> about 2.8 billion cut roses. The Netherlands, site of the <a href="https://www.visitaalsmeer.nl/en/facts-flower-auction-aalsmeer/">world’s largest flower auction</a>, isn’t the answer. Instead, cut roses sold in the U.S. primarily come from two places: Colombia and Ecuador. <a href="https://emergingmarkets.today/colombia-blooms-the-growing-business-of-flower-exports-2023/">Colombia provides</a> almost 60% of our roses, and <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220715-no-bed-of-roses-for-ecuador-s-flower-industry">Ecuador almost</a> 40%.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574189/original/file-20240207-20-x7p3w1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two security agents dressed in black inspect cardboard boxes filled with white and yellow flowers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574189/original/file-20240207-20-x7p3w1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574189/original/file-20240207-20-x7p3w1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574189/original/file-20240207-20-x7p3w1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574189/original/file-20240207-20-x7p3w1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574189/original/file-20240207-20-x7p3w1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574189/original/file-20240207-20-x7p3w1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574189/original/file-20240207-20-x7p3w1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists inspect imported roses ahead of Mother’s Day in May 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/redondo-beach-ca-united-states-customs-and-border-news-photo/1253740698?adppopup=true">Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why Colombia and Ecuador?</h2>
<p>The shift from U.S.-grown roses to South American ones happened a few decades ago, when the U.S. and Colombian governments were looking for new ways to <a href="https://tradevistas.org/rose-how-trade-policy-was-used-to-fight-drugs-from-colombia/">stem the flow of cocaine</a> into the U.S.</p>
<p>One part of the strategy was to convince farmers in Colombia to stop growing coca leaves – a traditional Andean plant that provides the raw ingredient for making cocaine – by giving them preferential access to U.S. markets if they grew something else.</p>
<p>So, in the early 1990s, Colombia and Ecuador signed the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act. Signing gave these coca-producing countries duty-free access to U.S. markets in exchange for clamping down on growing illegal drugs.</p>
<p>Whether the act <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-flowers-you-buy-your-mom-for-mothers-day-may-be-tied-to-the-us-war-on-drugs-138162">stopped drug production is unclear</a>, but many businesses in Colombia and Ecuador started growing and shipping flowers north.</p>
<h2>Prices for roses</h2>
<p>The vast quantity of roses coming up from Colombia and Ecuador has kept rose prices in check. The <a href="https://www.marketnews.usda.gov/mnp/fv-help-02">USDA has tracked</a> the price of a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/plant/tea-rose">dozen red hybrid tea roses</a> – the ones you commonly see being offered to romantic partners on Valentine’s Day – sold in major supermarkets weekly since 2011. Back in 2011, a dozen roses would set a buyer back a bit over $10. In 2023, the same arrangement cost around two dollars more, a price increase of 20%. Inflation went up 35% over the same time, making roses comparatively cheaper.</p>
<p>While rose prices are low during much of the year, they have large seasonal swings. In a typical year, <a href="https://www.marketnews.usda.gov/mnp/fv-report-retail?&commodity=ROSE,+HYBRID+TEA&repDate=01/01/2023&repType=wiz&endDate=09/01/2023&run=Run&type=retail&compareLy=No&locChoose=locState&portal=fv&commodityClass=allcommodity&region=NATIONAL&class=ORNAMENTALS&organic=ALL&startIndex=1">supermarket prices for a dozen roses</a> double around Valentine’s Day. Last year, <a href="https://www.marketnews.usda.gov/mnp/fv-report-retail?&commodity=ROSE,+HYBRID+TEA&repDate=01/01/2023&repType=wiz&endDate=09/01/2023&run=Run&type=retail&compareLy=No&locChoose=locState&portal=fv&commodityClass=allcommodity&region=NATIONAL&class=ORNAMENTALS&organic=ALL&startIndex=1">prices ranged</a> from a low in August of about $8 to almost $23 before Valentine’s Day. While the USDA doesn’t track flower shop prices, visiting my local florist shows the cost of <a href="https://www.winstonflowers.com/rose-collection/cat5100126">premium long-stem roses in vases</a> is higher.</p>
<h2>Why the price increase?</h2>
<p>Prices rise around Valentine’s Day as all parts of the supply chain, from growers to wholesalers to retailers, are stressed during the buying surge.</p>
<p>The U.S. government tracks monthly the <a href="https://www.usitc.gov/">import price</a> of single roses. In 2023, before Valentine’s Day, the average cut rose stem cost 40 cents <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/bespoke/made-on-earth/the-new-roots-of-the-flower-trade/">coming off the cargo plane</a>. This is higher than the annual low in August of 25 cents a stem. This means in August, roses cost wholesalers $3 a dozen, while a dozen Valentine’s Day roses cost $5 after clearing customs.</p>
<p>The USDA not only tracks prices in supermarkets but also <a href="https://usda.library.cornell.edu/concern/publications/b2773v71t">wholesale flower prices</a> in my city, Boston. Retail customers can’t buy flowers at these prices, since the <a href="http://www.newenglandflowerexchange.com/home.html">flower market caters</a> only to people in the trade. Just before Valentine’s Day 2024, <a href="https://downloads.usda.library.cornell.edu/usda-esmis/files/b2773v71t/zp38z133b/9880xb84f/BH_FV201.PDF">Boston wholesalers were charging</a> between $1 and $1.65 per stem of hybrid tea roses. <a href="https://downloads.usda.library.cornell.edu/usda-esmis/files/b2773v71t/2j62tn33p/k643ch93t/BH_FV201.TXT">Back in August 2023</a>, they were selling roses for between 90 cents and $1.50 per stem. These wholesale prices suggest supermarkets don’t make much if any money selling roses most of the year, earning profits only during the peak holiday times.</p>
<p>While none of the sources directly answered my question on how much money Americans spent on roses each year, it’s easy to calculate a rough value. In 2023, there were around 2.8 billion cut roses sold. Given the average price in supermarkets over the whole year for a dozen roses was a bit over $12, this means people in the U.S. are spending more than $3 billion annually.</p>
<p>And if you’re buying roses for your sweetheart, like I did for mine, then you’re contributing to the roughly half a billion dollars worth of roses bought to say “I love you” at Valentine’s Day.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223053/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jay L. Zagorsky does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Coming to grips with the economics of roses can be a thorny issue.Jay L. Zagorsky, Associate Professor of Markets, Public Policy and Law, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2209082024-01-17T14:17:05Z2024-01-17T14:17:05ZWhy Colombia sees legalising drugs as the way forward. Here’s what’s being proposed<p>Another drug war has begun in Latin America. The newly elected president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, has declared a <a href="https://theconversation.com/ecuador-how-this-island-of-peace-in-latin-america-has-become-a-hotbed-of-violence-run-by-criminal-gangs-and-drug-cartels-211458">state of emergency</a> and the military is being used to tackle violence and drug trafficking in a country that is part of the transnational cocaine <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ecuador-bananas-cocaine-europe-drug-trafficking-6d6529e2b1d8f3cbd16aea74ade0b93d">smuggling trade</a>.</p>
<p>Ecuador will probably realise what other countries in Latin America have done: military solutions to the illicit drug problem <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-57565-0_15">do not work</a>.</p>
<p>For decades, the Colombian government has confronted <a href="https://jied.lse.ac.uk/articles/10.31389/jied.93">powerful drug cartels</a> and drug-related violence with a policy guided by a series of UN treaties that prohibit drugs and oblige governments to prosecute recreational drug use and production. These treaties are known as the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0955395903000033?casa_token=Parrh7UyjZ4AAAAA:xJoltbmUIqF3fJHVoV3fblBNdMjVMmiDhvo6OGP5ZNxHtn5dPrMgZ1WrXBVe_IvjWLrstoe_">“drug prohibition regime”</a>. Under the mantle of these treaties, the <a href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/us-counter-drug-policy-western-hemisphere-it-working#:%7E:text=In%202016%2C%20the%20U.S.%20Congress,a%20sobering%20reality%3A%20close%20to">US has pushed Latin American governments</a> to implement tough laws on drug use, and crackdown on drug cartels in an attempt to tackle drug trafficking and drug addiction.</p>
<p>Governments, such as Mexico, Colombia, El Salvador and Honduras, have used their <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/psq.12832?casa_token=hXExQLJoXsYAAAAA%3ALfcCTqdguXWiurhJS4F4i3VxybWG70_ic4TXvYbJL1onmInxoRGP1MS45v0qAOxDDaxYpNlseHxKew">armies against drug cartels</a> since the 1980s. However, the use of the military in the region, with operations supported by the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-interamerican-studies-and-world-affairs/article/abs/dea-in-latin-america-dealing-with-institutionalized-corruption/8F4B90C46C1DB6FD6FBB4F4F7C48C11C">US Drug and Enforcement Agency</a>, has not prevented an increase in violence in the region. In the case of Mexico, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00031305.2014.965796?casa_token=QZ2uISCwM94AAAAA%3AkhpFZ38CEGMaFK-7YEYA3JADacoxpvjodW532f5WBlHJFWgjiAeuRPFDOrd0tN4OB0enYcGlppY">researchers have found a relationship</a> between the deployment of the military in anti-drug operations and the rise of homicides since 2007. Moreover, drug <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/drug-use-illicit.htm">addiction has not reduced in the US</a> (one expected outcome of the “war on drugs”). </p>
<p>Nowadays, Latin America and the Caribbean is the most violent region in the world. According to the 2023 report of the <a href="https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/gsh/2023/Global_study_on_homicide_2023_web.pdf">UN Office on Drugs and Crime</a> (UNODC), 34% of the homicides on the planet during 2021 happened in the Americas. Many of these homicides relate to the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10611-009-9195-z">global war on drugs</a>.</p>
<p>Some Latin American administrations have started to push back against policies that make <a href="https://www.talkingdrugs.org/drug-decriminalisation/">drugs illegal</a>. For example, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-39214085">Bolivia</a> legalised indigenous production of coca crops in 2011. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/19/uruguay-marijuana-sale-pharmacies">Uruguay</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/25/jamaica-decriminalises-marijuana">Jamaica</a> legalised some purchases of cannabis in 2014 and 2015 respectively. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/28/mexicos-high-court-strikes-down-laws-that-ban-use-of-recreational-marijuana">Mexico</a> and <a href="https://globalinitiative.net/analysis/cannabis-regulation-colombia/">Colombia</a> are discussing cannabis regulation. </p>
<p>Some of these governments, including Colombia, Mexico and Bolivia, tried to put forward a plan for a new global approach to drug use in 2016 at a UN general assembly special meeting but proponents of this failed to convince other countries to allow all types of drug decriminalisation. However, the assembly did reach <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/a-joint-commitment-to-effectively-addressing-and-countering-the-world-drug-problem">an agreement</a> to allow countries to regulate the medical uses of some previously illegal drugs such as cannabis. Now, these countries led by Colombian president Gustavo Petro will call for a new UN meeting to try to get more support for a new approach to the “war on drugs”.</p>
<h2>Colombia’s role</h2>
<p>Since the early 1960s, Colombia has been <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20043675?casa_token=Vak5pihEIyYAAAAA%3A1aOvm2PNGBIgkTk3zepMoYK_4rIVbEwQsWruBaHcH_gBp8I-VVMlTEoLpbXJm5De10ug2eVRJc4v29Vb8AuJ4DrfwScE9l-oQFzoGDGCOI20ddMObQ">the epicentre of the global war on drugs</a>. Infamously known as the centre of production of cocaine trafficked by regional criminal organisations, this country is experimenting with a peace process on two fronts: first, with the guerrillas, and second, <a href="https://urbanviolence.org/a-bargain-with-narcos/">with the drug cartels</a>. </p>
<p>Petro was elected with the promise to reduce the endless problem of violence. <a href="https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-09-07/colombias-petro-recruits-mexicos-lopez-obrador-in-his-quest-to-rethink-the-war-on-drugs.html">In September 2023</a>, Petro asked his Mexican counterpart, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to help convene a new UN meeting to overhaul the international approach to illegal drugs. Petro was also responding to pressure from global research showing the existing policy was not working. For example, public health experts in <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(22)01060-1/fulltext">The Lancet</a> have argued that making drugs illegal has failed to stem drug use.</p>
<p>There is a longstanding debate about whether proposing the end of drug prohibition – and the war on drugs as a consequence – will stop violence and reduce harmful addiction. From 2011, a group of former world leaders and intellectuals (such as former presidents of Mexico and Colombia, César Gaviria, Juan Manuel Santos and Ernesto Zedillo) have pushed for the <a href="https://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/reports/the-war-on-drugs">end of drug prohibition</a>. The data seems to back up their claims that prosecuting drug consumption and production is not reducing addiction. According to the <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-with-drug-disorders-by-substance">Global Burden of Disease Data</a>, from the Institute For Health Metrics and Evaluation, since the late 1990s, the number of drug users with drug dependence has increased from 40 to 50 million users yearly around the world, despite the “war on drugs”.</p>
<p>But Petro faces an uphill battle to gather support to challenge the drug prohibition regime. In September 2023 Latin American governments signed the <a href="https://www.cancilleria.gov.co/newsroom/news/representantes-15-paises-llegan-cali-conferencia-latinoamericana-caribe-drogas">Cali declaration</a>, calling for a UN assembly on the global drug problem to be held in 2025, one year before Petro’s presidency ends. But the US, which is experiencing a <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/opioids/basics/epidemic.html">fentanyl opioid epidemic</a>, is not likely to be positive about making more drugs legal. </p>
<p>US president Joe Biden is less prone to tackle drug policy with police prosecution and his approach includes alternatives such as treating <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/the-administrations-strategy/the-biden-harris-administrations-first-year-drug-policy-priorities/">addicts in health clinics instead of incarceration</a>. If in November Donald Trump wins the presidential election, drug policy is likely to be <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-deploy-military-assets-inflict-maximum-damage-cartels-elected-2024">more militarised than ever</a>. The former president explored <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/03/us/politics/trump-mexico-cartels-republican.html">using US military force in Mexico</a> to tackle fentanyl smuggling through Mexico. </p>
<p>López Obrador helped to organise the September 2023 Cali conference, but domestically he is not pursuing <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-29/mexico-s-supreme-court-removes-ban-against-smoking-marijuana?leadSource=uverify%20wall">drug legalisation policies</a>. He has deployed the Mexican military to reinforce drug confiscation of fentanyl after pressure from the US government.</p>
<p>Petro might find an ally in Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei. The new Argentinian president has declared he <a href="https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-08-15/whats-going-on-inside-javier-mileis-head.html">favours drug legalisation</a>, inspired by his libertarian position. However, Argentina is facing increasing crime rates <a href="https://insightcrime.org/news/new-strategies-in-rosario-argentina-as-monos-fight/">in some regions</a> and this security challenge might dissuade him from pursing drug legalisation. </p>
<p>Beyond the Americas, some European countries might back the initiative, such as <a href="https://transformdrugs.org/blog/drug-decriminalisation-in-portugal-setting-the-record-straight">Portugal</a> which decriminalised personal possession of all drugs in 2001. There, possession results in confiscation or a fine, but not imprisonment.</p>
<p>If political factors align, Petro might edge forward with his plans to tackle the global war on drugs differently. However, international tensions and the recent war in Ecuador have complicated the scenario. Hopefully, scientific evidence may force countries to consider new options.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220908/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Raul Zepeda Gil does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Colombia’s current president, Gustavo Petro, is pushing for a new global approach to drug addiction and use.Raul Zepeda Gil, Lecturer in Development Studies, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2209112024-01-12T20:28:23Z2024-01-12T20:28:23ZHow Ecuador went from being Latin America’s model of stability to a nation in crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568975/original/file-20240111-15-p90s4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C85%2C8142%2C5371&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ecuador looks set to entrust its anti-gang fight to the military.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/military-elements-guard-the-car-with-president-of-ecuador-news-photo/1915341584?adppopup=true">Franklin Jacome/Agencia Press South/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-08-13/once-ecuador-was-a-peaceful-country-now-it-is-one-of-the-regions-most-violent.html">Ecuador was until relatively recently</a> seen as <a href="https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Ecuador-on-Track-to-Become-the-Safest-Country-in-Latin-America-20150621-0009.html">one of the safest countries</a> in Latin America.</p>
<p>That reputation has surely now been destroyed.</p>
<p>On Jan. 9, 2024, images of hooded <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/09/ecuador-gangs-wave-terror-state-of-emergency">gunmen storming a TV studio</a> were broadcast around the world. It was one of a number of violent incidents that took place that day, including <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/09/world/americas/ecuador-gang-prison-emergency.html">prison riots, widespread hostage-taking</a>, the <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/seven-police-kidnapped-in-ecuador-as-president-declares-security-emergency-101704828141894.html">kidnapping of several police officers</a> and a <a href="https://crisis24.garda.com/alerts/2024/01/ecuador-criminal-groups-launch-attacks-jan-9-following-declaration-of-state-of-emergency-and-curfew-update-3">series of car explosions</a>.</p>
<p>I have been <a href="https://pir.fiu.edu/people/faculty-a-z/eduardo-gamarra1/eduardo-gamarra.html">tracking how gang crime has affected states in Latin America</a> for 38 years. When I started, few would have projected that Ecuador would descend into the crisis it finds itself today. But the story of Ecuador reflects a wider story of how countries across Latin America have struggled with organized crime and transnational drug gangs and how they have responded.</p>
<p>Ecuador now looks set to follow the recent <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/09/19/bukele-salvador-gang-crackdown/">path of El Salvador under President Nayib Bukele’s leadership</a> in trying to crack the gang problem through the use of military and the suspension of democratic norms. In the aftermath of the Jan. 9 violence, Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa named 22 gangs as terrorist organizations – a designation that makes them legitimate military targets. He has also <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-67930452">imposed a 60-day state of emergency</a>, during which Ecuadorians will be subject to curfews while armed forces try to restore order in the streets and the country’s gang-controlled prisons.</p>
<h2>Ecuador: Victim of geography</h2>
<p>To understand why Ecuador has become the epicenter of gang violence, you need to understand both the geography and history of Latin America’s drug trade.</p>
<p><iframe id="NQYh1" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/NQYh1/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Ecuador, a nation of 18 million people, is situated between Colombia in the north and Peru in the east and south. Colombia and Peru are the <a href="https://www.barrons.com/news/colombia-sets-new-cocaine-production-record-un-832dac7c">two top producers of cocaine in the world</a>. Further, Ecuador has a near-1,400 mile (2,237-kilometer) coastline through which drugs from the continent can be <a href="https://insightcrime.org/investigations/ecuador-a-cocaine-superhighway-to-the-us-and-europe/">taken to markets in Europe and the United States</a>.</p>
<p>But it wasn’t until the <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/ecuador-war-on-drugs">U.S.-led “war on drugs</a>” put the squeeze on cartels in other countries that Ecuador became the preserve of narco gangs.</p>
<h2>Plan Colombia</h2>
<p>In the 1980s and 1990s, Colombia was the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.013.504">center of the international illegal drug trade</a>. This is hardly surprising, given that it was the <a href="https://www.unodc.org/pdf/andean/Andean_report_Part4.pdf">top producer of coca leaves</a>.</p>
<p>But beginning in 2000, a joint initiative between Colombian authorities and the U.S., known as <a href="https://www.americasquarterly.org/fulltextarticle/plan-colombia-a-retrospective/">Plan Colombia</a>, <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R43813">pumped billions</a> of dollars into an effort to clamp down on the Colombian cocaine trade.</p>
<p>While it may have been successful in <a href="https://www.usglc.org/media/2017/04/USGLC-Plan-Columbia.pdf">supressing drug cartels</a> in Colombia itself, it has had a balloon effect elsewhere in the region: Squeeze in one place, the bulge appears elsewhere.</p>
<p>In this case, it was Mexico’s cartels that “bulged” first. Over the past decade, there has been a <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/mexicos-long-war-drugs-crime-and-cartels">massive growth in Mexican cartels</a>, led by the Sinaloa cartel and the Jalisco Nueva Generación, or Jalisco New Generation. In fact, a study last year found that Mexican cartels were in effect the country’s <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/cutting-cartel-recruitment-could-be-only-way-reduce-mexico-s-violence">fifth-largest employer</a>.</p>
<p>These cartels came to dominate the illegal drug trade in Latin America, not just for cocaine, but also the trafficking of heroin and more lately fentanyl. Aligning themselves with <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/12/terrifying-days-of-terror-under-colombias-gulf-clan-cartel">Clan Del Golfo</a> – a Colombian paramilitary organization formed from the remnants of the gangs dismantled under joint Colombian-U.S. operations – the cartels helped traffic drugs through Ecuador and out of South America.</p>
<p>They were joined by European gangs, <a href="https://www.americasquarterly.org/article/ecuadors-crime-wave-and-its-albanian-connection/">notably from Albania</a>, who began to show up in Ecuador.</p>
<p>The impact locally of these outside gangs has been disastrous for Ecuador.</p>
<h2>Prior immunity</h2>
<p>European and Mexican organizations ran local operatives as enforcers and transporters. And these are the people who have become the backbone of Ecuador’s gang problem today.</p>
<p>Ecuadorian gangs such as <a href="https://insightcrime.org/news/rise-fall-choneros-ecuador-drug-trafficking-pioneers/">Los Choneros</a> developed as a de facto subsidiary of the Sinaloa and other cartels. The <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20240111-what-we-know-about-fito-ecuador-s-notorious-gang-leader-who-escaped-jail">escape from jail</a> of Los Choneros’ leader, Jose Adolfo Macias, on Jan. 7, 2024, set off the latest explosion of violence. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man stands with his hands cuffed behind his back. Two men stand either side of him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568973/original/file-20240111-23-10j7t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568973/original/file-20240111-23-10j7t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568973/original/file-20240111-23-10j7t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568973/original/file-20240111-23-10j7t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568973/original/file-20240111-23-10j7t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568973/original/file-20240111-23-10j7t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568973/original/file-20240111-23-10j7t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Police officers arrest a gunman who burst into a studio of the state-owned TC television.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/police-officers-arrest-one-of-the-unidentified-gunmen-who-news-photo/1913161165?adppopup=true">STR/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But Ecuador’s descent into violence and chaos has also been aided by the very fact that for so long it was immune from the worst of the gang violence of the region.</p>
<p>For many years, Ecuador had <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2024/01/10/how-ecuador-became-latin-americas-deadliest-country">one of the lowest homicide rates</a> in Latin America – an indicator of low gang activity. As a result, it hadn’t developed a robust police and military response to gangs. Ecuador, in comparison to Colombia, El Salvador and other countries, was seen as a “soft touch” to organized crime bosses. </p>
<p>This became ever more the case in 2009 when former President Rafael Correa <a href="https://en.mercopress.com/2009/09/19/last-us-forces-abandon-manta-military-base-in-ecuador">closed down the U.S. air base in Manta</a>, from where American AWAC surveillance planes had been monitoring and trying to disrupt drug trafficking.</p>
<h2>Militarizing the response</h2>
<p>Explaining how Ecuador became the epicenter of drug gang violence is one thing. Trying to find a way out for the country now is another.</p>
<p>Across Latin America, countries have employed different models to counter organized crime, with varying degrees of success. Colombia, with extensive U.S. assistance, transformed its military and police and went to war with the cartels. The strategy somewhat successfully dismantled organized crime groups in the country, even if it failed to halt drug trafficking itself or lower the high levels of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/06/08/us-war-drugs-helped-unleash-violence-colombia-today/">violence in Colombia</a>.</p>
<p>Mexican authorities have tried a different approach and have been reluctant to confront the country’s drug cartels head-on. Instead, Mexico has employed a more hands-off approach, allowing drug gangs to essentially govern their states – the state of Sinaloa is <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-the-sinaloa-cartel-rules/">run largely by the cartel</a> that shares its name. </p>
<p>Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has touted this “<a href="https://www.cfr.org/blog/amlos-hugs-not-bullets-failing-mexico">hugs not bullets</a>” approach, but under it the power of the cartels <a href="https://cbsaustin.com/news/nation-world/mexican-cartels-grow-in-power-and-influence-with-calls-to-change-tactics-in-fighting-back-kidnapping-killings-murders-homicides-matamoros-border-crisis">has only grown</a>.</p>
<p>And then there is the Salvadoran model.</p>
<p>For many years, El Salvador suffered from organized crime, with the <a href="https://www.bloomberglinea.com/english/who-are-the-maras-the-gangs-that-el-salvador-and-honduras-are-waging-war-against/">Maras gang</a> behind much of the country’s violence. Then in 2019 the electorate voted in Nayib Bukele on a law-and-order platform. Since then, he has <a href="https://insightcrime.org/news/gamechangers-2022-el-salvador-gang-crackdown-steep-human-rights-cost/">militarized the country</a>, adopted draconian security measures and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/el-salvador-prison-gangs-bukele-42315f24691e0a3136d005ab7c0bee6a">jailed some 72,000 alleged gang members</a>, often without due process.</p>
<p>As a result, El Salvador is now perceived as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/09/25/el-salvador-crime-human-rights-prisons/">one of the safest places</a> in Latin America. This has been achieved at the expense of human rights, critics say. But, nonetheless, Bukele’s methods have enormous popular appeal.</p>
<h2>Path of El Salvador</h2>
<p>With an unprecedented wave of violence in Ecuador, it looks like President Noboa is looking to take his country down the same path as El Salvador. He has ordered the Ecuadorian military to “<a href="https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20240109-gunmen-burst-into-ecuador-tv-studio-threaten-journalists-live-on-air">neutralize” the criminal gangs</a> that operate in the country.</p>
<p>Whether the approach will work is another matter; Ecuador is in a weaker position than El Salvador.</p>
<p>Whereas many of the gangs were imported into El Salvador – many members of Maras had been deported from the U.S. – in Ecuador, they are homegrown and have become more sophisticated. Further, Noboa – despite taking office in December – has only 15 months of his presidency left before a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/20/world/americas/ecuador-election-assassination-explainer.html">general election takes place in May 2025</a>. </p>
<p>Yet, the adoption of Bukele’s methods might be seen as an election winner.</p>
<p>Like in El Salvador, the majority of Ecuador’s citizens appear ready for an iron fist approach to counter the gangs – even at the expense of some civil liberties. If you speak to the average Ecuadorian, many would no doubt tell you that talk of human rights violations is bogus at a time when they live under the fear of being murdered simply by leaving their homes.</p>
<p>As one man <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ecuador-violence-prisons-television-studio-gangs-72a3df45debae4459663c462304bcf91">told The Associated Press</a> in the aftermath of Jan. 9’s violence, the government needs to employ “a firmer hand, to have no mercy, no tolerance or (respect for) the human rights of criminals.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220911/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eduardo Gamarra has received funding from foundations, US government agencies, multilateral organizations and private donors. </span></em></p>Widespread violence tied to Ecuadorian drug gangs has left the country looking at a draconian response.Eduardo Gamarra, Professor of Politics and International Relations, Florida International UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2155202023-10-30T19:03:52Z2023-10-30T19:03:52ZDarien Gap: As migrants take deadly risks for better lives, Canada and the U.S. must do much more<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/darien-gap-as-migrants-take-deadly-risks-for-better-lives-canada-and-the-us-must-do-much-more" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Canadian Immigration Minister Marc Miller recently announced that as many as 15,000 displaced people with extended family connections in Canada — most of them from Colombia, Haiti and Venezuela and located in Central or South America or the Caribbean — <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2023/10/statement-from-minister-miller-on-canadas-commitment-to-support-migrants-in-the-americas.html">are now eligible to apply to immigrate to Canada</a> on a humanitarian basis. </p>
<p>By announcing this measure, Canada affirmed its commitment to <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2023/04/27/fact-sheet-us-government-announces-sweeping-new-actions-manage-regional-migration">a joint initiative, known as Safe Mobility</a>, launched by the United States in April 2023 to stem the irregular crossings of hundreds of thousands of people into the U.S. by offering alternatives.</p>
<p>These 15,000 people represent a small number of as many as <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/americas-migration-crisis-panama-texas-1.6982215">400,000 displaced people</a> expected to cross the Darien Gap, a 100-kilometre stretch of treacherous jungle shared by Colombia and Panama, in 2023 in search of safety, security and protection.</p>
<p>Forced to migrate by political instability, repression and other hardships, people from Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador and Haiti represent most of the displaced people who have crossed the Darien Gap in the last few years. </p>
<p>As many migrants told us when <a href="http://doi.org/10.1002/psp.2441">we interviewed </a> them in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cag.12701">Tijuana</a> in northern Mexico and Tapachula in the south of Mexico between 2018 and 2022, crossing the continent is not for the faint of heart. </p>
<p>They may experience harassment, extortion or detention by migration authorities, violence perpetrated by criminals and abuse by deceitful unscrupulous smugglers. The number of lives lost in the Darien Gap, including children and adolescents, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(23)01635-5">is increasing</a>. </p>
<h2>Cracking down in Costa Rica</h2>
<p>In the past, at least for Venezuelans, it was not necessary to cross the jungle. They were able to travel to Costa Rica, for instance, by air. As many as 12,533 Venezuelans <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/costa-rican-migration-immigrant-integration-policy">applied for refugee status</a> in Costa Rica between 2015 and August 2021. </p>
<p>But to curtail this flow, the Costa Rican government introduced a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wss.2023.100151">visa requirement</a> in 2022 for Venezuelans, forcing people who wished to travel to the country to undertake the dangerous journey through the Darien Gap.</p>
<p>But the problems for Venezuelan asylum-seekers don’t end there. As the migrants and NGO representatives in our study told us, the current wait time for the first eligibility interview with Costa Rican immigration officials is 10 years. The Costa Rican refugee unit is <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/costa-rican-migration-immigrant-integration-policy">severely under-resourced and heavily reliant on international assistance</a>. </p>
<p>Further curtailing refugee rights, Costa Rica introduced <a href="https://www.pgrweb.go.cr/scij/Busqueda/Normativa/Normas/nrm_texto_completo.aspx?param1=NRTC&param2=1&nValor1=1&nValor2=98356&nValor3=133735&strTipM=TC&lResultado=2&nValor4=1&strSelect=sel">reforms in late 2022</a> that prevent asylum-seekers who have travelled through third countries from making refugee claims.</p>
<h2>Nicaraguan refugees</h2>
<p>Ironically, the vast majority of the refugee applications Costa Rica receives today are not from people who cross the Darien Gap. The <a href="https://gjia.georgetown.edu/2023/03/17/nicaragua-on-the-brink-protests-elections-and-mass-atrocity/">political violence and repression in Nicaragua since 2018</a> have propelled many to flee to Costa Rica. </p>
<p>As of June 2022, <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/record-emigration-nicaragua-crisis#:%7E:text=The%20erosion%20of%20democracy%20and,of%20the%20Cold%20War%20era.">Costa Rica hosted</a> 205,000 asylum seekers — 89 per cent of them from Nicaragua. </p>
<p>To deter new arrivals from Nicaragua from presenting refugee claims or obtaining the status, the Costa Rican reforms announced on December 2022 changed certain rules and regulations. These measures were criticized by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and NGO representatives we interviewed in Costa Rica in 2023. In fact, the <a href="https://delfino.cr/2023/02/sala-iv-condena-al-estado-por-decreto-de-chaves-que-limita-libertad-de-transito-de-refugiados">Costa Rican Supreme Court</a> found some provisions of these reforms unconstitutional.</p>
<h2>The scene in Mexico</h2>
<p>Unlike Costa Rica, Mexico, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/02/02/executive-order-creating-a-comprehensive-regional-framework-to-address-the-causes-of-migration-to-manage-migration-throughout-north-and-central-america-and-to-provide-safe-and-orderly-processing/">under pressure from the U.S.</a>, encourages migrants in transit toward the U.S. border to seek asylum in Mexico. </p>
<p>By the end of 2022, the <a href="https://www.gob.mx/cms/uploads/attachment/file/792337/Cierre_Diciembre-2022__31-Dic.__1.pdf">number of refugee claimants</a> in Mexico from other Central American countries, Haiti, Venezuela and Cuba had reached 120,000. </p>
<p>However, they were forced to remain in the southern state of Chiapas while their claims were reviewed, and the migrants we interviewed reported harassment by official authorities and destitution.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.wola.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/FINAL-Struggling-to-Survive-Asylum-Seekers-in-Tapachula.pdf">Other studies</a> support their claims. Furthermore, most migrants we interviewed in Mexico told us they had no intention of staying in Mexico even if recognized as refugees because they did not consider the country safe.</p>
<h2>U.S., Canada, must step up</h2>
<p>In April 2023, the U.S. State Department and the Department of Homeland Security announced new measures to deport all migrants and asylum-seekers who crossed the southern U.S. border by irregular means. The U.S. also introduced the <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2023/04/27/fact-sheet-us-government-announces-sweeping-new-actions-manage-regional-migration">Safe Mobility initiative</a> to process applications for admissions submitted in offices set up in Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Guatemala.</p>
<p>The U.S. promised to admit up to <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/CHNV">30,000 people</a> a month from <a href="https://movilidadsegura.org/en/">Venezuela, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Cuba and Haiti</a>. Not only is this protection status temporary — a two-year <a href="https://helpspanish.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-1639?language=en_US#:%7E:text=Humanitarian%20Parole%20is%20granted%20to,reason%20or%20significant%20public%20benefit.">humanitarian parole</a> rather than permanent residency — but it’s conditional upon a “supporter” present in the U.S. </p>
<p>Canada’s <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2023/10/statement-from-minister-miller-on-canadas-commitment-to-support-migrants-in-the-americas.html">recent announcement</a> fails to make it clear whether admitting 15,000 displaced people is a one-off measure or whether Canada is setting an annual target.</p>
<p>Regardless, it doesn’t come anywhere close to meeting the needs of the displaced people in the Americas. Canada should consider expanding its refugee resettlement program to assist more asylum-seekers in desperate conditions in this region, not only those with family ties in Canada.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215520/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tanya Basok receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Guillermo Candiz receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>Migrants who cross the treacherous Darien Gap between Panama and Colombia often experience violence and abuse, extortion or detention by migration authorities.Tanya Basok, Professor, Sociology, University of WindsorGuillermo Candiz, Assistant Professor, Human Plurality, Université de l'Ontario françaisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2126802023-09-29T17:00:37Z2023-09-29T17:00:37ZLost in the coffee aisle? Navigating the complex buzzwords behind an ‘ethical’ bag of beans is easier said than done<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551067/original/file-20230928-21-efm249.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C0%2C2121%2C1397&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The text on a single bag of coffee can feel like information overload.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/young-asian-woman-pushing-a-shopping-cart-grocery-royalty-free-image/1469902811?phrase=coffee+aisle&adppopup=true">d3sign/Moment via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>You’re shopping for a bag of coffee beans at the grocery store. After reading about <a href="https://theconversation.com/coffee-60-of-wild-species-are-at-risk-of-extinction-due-to-climate-change-109982">the effects of climate change</a> and how little farmers make – <a href="https://perfectdailygrind.com/2022/09/how-much-of-the-price-of-a-cup-of-coffee-do-farmers-receive/">typically $0.40 per cup</a> – you figure it might be time to change your usual beans and buy something more ethical. Perusing the shelves in the coffee aisle, though, you see too many choices.</p>
<p>First up is the red tub of Folgers “100% Colombian,” a kitchen staple – “lively with a roasted and rich finish.” On the side of the tub, you see <a href="https://luzmedia.co/colombian-coffee">the icon of Juan Valdez</a> with his donkey, Conchita – a fictional mascot representing the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation.</p>
<p>Next might be Starbucks “<a href="https://www.kroger.com/p/starbucks-colombia-medium-roast-ground-coffee/0076211120611">Single-Origin Colombia</a>.” One side of the green bag tells “the story” of the beans, describing “treacherous dirt roads” to “6,500 feet of elevation” that are “worth the journey every time.” The other shows a QR code and promises Starbucks is “Committed to 100% Ethical Coffee Sourcing in partnership with Conservation International.” </p>
<p>Then again, you’ve heard that a “better” choice would be to buy from local cafes. The bag from your local roaster introduces you to La Familia Vieira of Huila, Colombia, who have worked as coffee farmers for four generations at 1,600 meters above sea level – about a mile. But then there’s a flood of unfamiliar lingo: the 88-point anerobic-processed coffee was sourced directly from an importer who has a six-year relationship with the family, paid $3.70 per pound at farmgate, and $6.10 per pound FOB at a time when the C-market price was $1.60 per pound.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551072/original/file-20230928-21-o96poq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a straw hat and pink shirt pours brightly colored berries through an open-air processor." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551072/original/file-20230928-21-o96poq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551072/original/file-20230928-21-o96poq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551072/original/file-20230928-21-o96poq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551072/original/file-20230928-21-o96poq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551072/original/file-20230928-21-o96poq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551072/original/file-20230928-21-o96poq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551072/original/file-20230928-21-o96poq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Coffee farmer Julian Pinilla uses a coffee grinder during an interview with AFP in Valle del Cauca, Colombia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/coffee-farmer-julian-pinilla-uses-a-coffee-grinder-during-news-photo/1504615725?adppopup=true">Juan Restrepo/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If you’re about ready to toss in the towel, you’re hardly alone. Consumers are often asked to make more responsible choices. Yet when it comes to commodity goods like coffee, the complex production chain can turn an uncomplicated habit into a complicated decision.</p>
<p>As a coffee enthusiast and <a href="https://www.uml.edu/msb/faculty/ross-spencer.aspx">marketing professor who researches marketplace justice</a>, I’ve long been fascinated with how ethics and coffee consumption are intertwined. Before COVID-19, my family <a href="https://www.instagram.com/yukro.cat/">adopted a cat and named him Yukro</a>, after a coffee-producing community in Ethiopia. While we were quarantining at home, I ordered Yukro-originating coffee from as many roasters as I could find to try to understand how consumers were supposed to make an informed choice.</p>
<p>Paradoxically, the more information I gleaned, the less I knew how to make a responsible decision. Indeed, prior research has indicated that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.03.011">information overload increases the paradox of choice</a>; this is no different when factoring in ethical information. Additionally, as with a lot of consumer-facing information, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/07439156231202746">it can be difficult to tell what information is relevant or credible</a>. </p>
<p>Marketers attempt to simplify this overload by using buzzwords that sound good but may not get across much nuance. However, you might consider some of these terms when trying to decide between “100% Colombian” and the Vieira family. </p>
<h2>Fair trade</h2>
<p>As a benchmark, the coffee industry typically uses the “C-price”: <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/future/kc00">the traded price</a> on the New York Intercontinental Exchange for a pound of coffee ready for export. “Fair trade” implies the coffee is fairly traded, often with the goal of paying farmers minimum prices – and fixed premiums – above the C-price. </p>
<p>There are a few different fair trade certifications, such as <a href="https://www.fairtradeamerica.org/">Fairtrade America</a> or <a href="https://www.fairtradecertified.org/">Fair Trade Certified</a>. Each of these has its own, voluntary certification standards linked with the associated organization. Yet <a href="https://cdn.coffeestrategies.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Sustainable-Coffee-Certifications-Comparison-Matrix-2010.pdf">obtaining certification</a> can come at significant additional cost for farms or importers.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551070/original/file-20230928-25-et44vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Women spread out coffee beans on a drying rack in an open field with hills in the distance." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551070/original/file-20230928-25-et44vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551070/original/file-20230928-25-et44vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551070/original/file-20230928-25-et44vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551070/original/file-20230928-25-et44vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551070/original/file-20230928-25-et44vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551070/original/file-20230928-25-et44vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551070/original/file-20230928-25-et44vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Farmers work on the coffee seed harvest in the Nandi province of Tindiret, Kenya.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-farmers-are-on-the-process-of-coffee-seed-harvest-at-news-photo/1650320045?adppopup=true">Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In contrast, some importers, or even roasters, have established relationships with specific farms, rather than buying beans at auction on the open market. These relationships potentially allow the importers to work directly with farmers over multi-year periods to improve the coffee quality and conditions. Longer-term commitment can provide farmers more certainty in times when the C-price is below their cost of production. </p>
<p>Yet these arrangements can be just as volatile for farmers if the importers they’ve committed to cannot find roasters interested in buying their beans – beans they could have sold at auction themselves.</p>
<h2>100% arabica</h2>
<p>There are several species of coffee, but <a href="https://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-and/climate-coffee">approximately 70% of the world’s production</a> comes from the arabica species, which grows well at higher altitudes. Like with wine, there are several varieties of arabica, and they tend to be a bit sweeter than other species – making arabica the ideal species for satisfying consumers.</p>
<p>In other words, a label like “100% arabica” is meant to signal deliciousness and prestige – though it’s about as descriptive as calling a bottle of pinot noir “100% red.”</p>
<p>When it comes to the environment, though, arabica isn’t necessarily a win. Many arabica varieties are susceptible to climate change-related conditions such as coffee rust – <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/09/coffee-rust/616358/">a common fungus</a> that spreads easily and can devastate farms – or drought. </p>
<p>Other coffee species such as robusta or <a href="https://intelligence.coffee/2023/03/whatever-happened-eugenioides-coffee/">the less common eugenioides</a> are more climate-change resistant, reducing costs of production for farmers, and are <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/675807/average-prices-arabica-and-robusta-coffee-worldwide/">cheaper on commodity markets</a>. However, they have a bit of a <a href="https://sprudge.com/what-is-eugenioides-coffee-181142.html">different taste profile</a> than what folks are normally used to, which could mean lower earnings for farmers who make the switch, but could also provide new opportunities in areas where coffee was not previously farmed or to new markets of consumers’ tastes.</p>
<h2>Single-origin</h2>
<p>If someone labeled a peach as “American,” a consumer would rightly wonder where exactly it came from. Similarly, “single-origin” is a very broad description that could mean the coffee came from “Africa” or “Ethiopia” or “Jimma Zone” – even the zone’s specific town of “Agaro.” “Single-estate” at least gives slightly more farm-level information, though even this information may be tough to come by. </p>
<p>Consumers have tended to want their coffee’s journey from seed to cup to be <a href="https://perfectdailygrind.com/2023/04/do-specialty-coffee-consumers-want-to-connect-with-farmers/">traceable and transparent</a>, which implies that everyone along the production chain is committed to equity – and “single-origin” appears to provide those qualities.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551069/original/file-20230928-17-hi274j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a blue shirt crouches to examine small green fruits along a stem." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551069/original/file-20230928-17-hi274j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551069/original/file-20230928-17-hi274j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551069/original/file-20230928-17-hi274j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551069/original/file-20230928-17-hi274j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551069/original/file-20230928-17-hi274j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551069/original/file-20230928-17-hi274j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551069/original/file-20230928-17-hi274j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Egyptian farmer Ahmad al-Hijawi’s Yemeni coffee beans are cultivated in the shade of mango trees.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/view-of-egyptian-farmer-ahmad-al-hijawis-yemeni-coffee-news-photo/1673786616?adppopup=true">Mohamed Elshahed/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As a result, some coffee marketers invest quite a bit in being able to craft a narrative that emotionally resonates with consumers and makes them feel “connected” to the farm. Others have developed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joitmc.2023.100008">blockchain solutions</a> where each step along the coffee’s journey, from bean to retail, is documented in a database that consumers can look at. Since blockchain data are immutable, the information a consumer gets from scanning a QR code on a label of a coffee bag should provide a clear chain of provenance.</p>
<h2>Shade-grown</h2>
<p>Shade-grown labels indicate that farms have adopted a more environmentally sustainable method, using biomatter like dead leaves as natural fertilizer for the coffee shrubs <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.877476">growing beneath a canopy of trees</a>. Unlike other methods, shade-grown coffee doesn’t increase deforestation, and it protects habitats for animals like migratory birds – which is why the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, which has developed its own coffee certification program, <a href="https://nationalzoo.si.edu/migratory-birds/bird-friendly">calls it “bird-friendly</a>.”</p>
<p>But as with fair trade, there are costs associated with certification, and those costs are often passed on to consumers. Farmers or importers are left justifying the cost and wondering if the specialized label can attract a large enough market to validate their decision to certify. That said, many farmers who have the ability will do shade-grown regardless, since it’s a better farming practice and <a href="https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2019/03/12/shade-grown-coffee-sustainable/">saves some costs</a> on fertilizer.</p>
<p>In the end, all this information – or lack thereof – is a tool for consumers to use when making their coffee choices. Like any tool, sometimes it’s helpful, and sometimes not. These labels might not make your decision any easier, and might drive you right back to your “usual” bag of beans – but at least your choice can be more nuanced.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212680/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Spencer M. Ross is a former member of the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) and has presented seminars twice at SCA events.</span></em></p>If you’ve decided to look for coffee that’s better for the earth or the people making it, you might need some help translating all the industry lingo.Spencer M. Ross, Associate Professor of Marketing, UMass LowellLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2133302023-09-20T12:47:01Z2023-09-20T12:47:01ZAmericans do talk about peace − just not the same way people do in other countries<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549141/original/file-20230919-29-46yjz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children wave peace doves at a concert for peace in Bogota, Colombia, in August 2022. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/choir-made-up-of-more-than-10000-children-wave-peace-doves-news-photo/1419832116?adppopup=true">Chepa Beltran/Long Visual Press/Universal Images Group via Getty Images </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Americans don’t talk much about peace. But <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/lsi.2022.94">it turns out</a> they care about it a lot – they just don’t talk about it the way people who have experienced war or civil conflict do. </p>
<p>When public opinion polls in the U.S. ask people about peace, it’s either in the context of <a href="https://www.thearda.com/data-archive?fid=GSSPANEL2">religion</a> or <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/245705/americans-higher-hopes-prosperity-peace-2019.aspx">world peace</a>.</p>
<p>Instead of using the word peace, Americans are more likely to say that they care deeply about safety and security and issues like <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/02/06/economy-remains-the-publics-top-policy-priority-covid-19-concerns-decline-again/">terrorism, crime, illegal drugs and immigration</a>. </p>
<p>But they still care about the same things people in places that have faced war are focused on. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549142/original/file-20230919-15-3xgj0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People wear face masks and hold large yellow and white peace signs on a city street." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549142/original/file-20230919-15-3xgj0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549142/original/file-20230919-15-3xgj0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549142/original/file-20230919-15-3xgj0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549142/original/file-20230919-15-3xgj0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549142/original/file-20230919-15-3xgj0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549142/original/file-20230919-15-3xgj0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549142/original/file-20230919-15-3xgj0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protestors hold peace signs in support of Black Lives Matter in July 2020 in Oakland, Calif.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/protesters-hold-peace-signs-in-support-of-black-lives-news-photo/1258684586?adppopup=true">Natasha Moustache/Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>What is peace?</h2>
<p><a href="https://sps.columbia.edu/faculty-staff/peter-dixon-phd">We are</a> <a href="https://www.scu.edu/cas/political-science/faculty--staff/fiorella-vera-adrianzen/">social scientists</a> who are part of a <a href="https://www.everydaypeaceindicators.org/team">network of peace and conflict</a> <a href="https://www.scu.edu/cas/political-science/faculty--staff/naomi-levy/">researchers </a> and <a href="https://possibilitylab.berkeley.edu/">community-engaged</a> <a href="https://gspp.berkeley.edu/research-and-impact/faculty/amy-e-lerman">scholars</a> at several universities. We and our other colleagues have spent a lot of time talking with different communities that have experienced war, including in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jhuman/huac030">Colombia</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17502977.2020.1812893">Afghanistan</a> and <a href="https://www.everydaypeaceindicators.org/_files/ugd/849039_a2d4c66b63cc4e67815a6b736cc42cd5.pdf">Bosnia and Herzegovina</a>, about what <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-photography-can-build-peace-and-justice-in-war-torn-communities-166143">peace looks like</a> to them.</p>
<p>Peace is hard to define. In the dictionary, it’s equated with tranquility or the absence of war. We see it as broader. Peace is the ability for people to live in harmony with themselves and with each other. In practice, however, that can mean <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0263395715622967">many different things</a> to different people. </p>
<p><a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/everyday-peace-9780197563397?cc=us&lang=en&">We know</a> that <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/reclaiming-everyday-peace/BEB6532292D692933AABC68EFFF9ACB3">people who directly experience conflict</a> and violence tend to have very broad, but also nuanced, definitions of peace. </p>
<p>In Colombia, for example, many communities told us they felt at peace when they had the infrastructure necessary to supply basic needs, like clean water, or when they could actively participate in regular social gatherings. In Bosnia, residents highlighted the ability to use public spaces, including rebuilt ruins from the war, as well as the presence of more day-to-day amenities like streetlights and parking.</p>
<p>But until a recent project in Oakland, California, we weren’t thinking about our work in America as also being about peace. </p>
<p>Since 2021, we’ve been working with six community organizations in Oakland to understand how people define and experience safety and well-being in their everyday lives. As it turns out, these concepts helped us get at how Americans, who have not experienced war like the people in other regions we’ve worked with, might also understand peace.</p>
<h2>Re-imagining safety</h2>
<p>Our research’s focus on safety was inspired by a number of <a href="https://www.nlc.org/post/2021/02/16/nlc-assembles-task-force-of-local-leaders-to-reimagine-public-safety-in-communities-across-the-u-s/">cities and towns</a>, like <a href="https://www.columbus.gov/reimaginesafety/">Columbus, Ohio</a>, and <a href="https://www.austintexas.gov/publicsafety">Austin, Texas</a>, that have launched projects to reform how public safety is conceived of and protected following the widespread <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/03/us/george-floyd-protests-crowd-size.html">Black Lives Matter protests</a> in 2020. </p>
<p>Oakland has undergone a similar process of asking residents to help their local government <a href="https://www.oaklandca.gov/topics/reimagining-public-safety">rethink what safety</a> means. And, like <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-voters-rejected-plans-to-replace-the-minneapolis-police-department-and-whats-next-for-policing-reform-171183">other cities</a>, Oakland residents have had an intense <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/The-Oakland-Police-Department-claims-it-is-16386039.php">debate over the police department</a> and how the government should reform its approach to crime. </p>
<p>We spoke to over 500 residents across parts of Oakland that have been especially hard hit by crime and violence and who live in areas that have historically been both overpoliced and underserved with public resources. </p>
<p>We asked questions like, “What does safety or the lack of safety look like here,” and “What are some signs that the community is doing well or not doing well?”</p>
<p>These conversations covered a lot of ground – ground that was similar to other conversations we’ve had about peace with people who live in conflict zones or countries with long histories of war.</p>
<p>Some Oakland residents spoke about how kids are desensitized to gunshots and violence or are arrested or kicked out of their homes. We heard that these kids and teenagers ultimately lose sight of how their lives – and the lives of others – have value.</p>
<p>High school students also reflected on the prevalence of guns, shootings and gangs in their lives. As one told us, “I want to go back” to a more innocent time, when “I didn’t know nothing about any of this.”</p>
<p>But just as we know that violence and security are only two aspects of people’s understandings of peace, the same is true of safety. The police – and even crime – are just two aspects of how communities think about safety in their everyday lives. They also think about economic opportunities, public space and social connections.</p>
<p>We heard about how, when kids have basic life skills and job skills training, or have mentors and role models, this can give them choices that are alternatives to criminal activity and help them invest back in their communities.</p>
<p>We heard about block parties and <a href="https://www.townnights.org/">town nights</a>, which inspire people of different races and ethnicities to look out for each other and build trust with their neighbors. “By us, for us,” as one resident put it.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549145/original/file-20230919-25-r870wu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The back of a man flashing two peace signs with his hands is seen on a city street, with many other people walking past him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549145/original/file-20230919-25-r870wu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549145/original/file-20230919-25-r870wu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549145/original/file-20230919-25-r870wu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549145/original/file-20230919-25-r870wu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549145/original/file-20230919-25-r870wu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549145/original/file-20230919-25-r870wu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549145/original/file-20230919-25-r870wu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A man flashes the peace sign as protesters march during an Occupy Oakland protest in November 2011 in Oakland, Calif.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/man-flashes-the-peace-sign-as-thousands-of-protestors-march-news-photo/131201340?adppopup=true">Justin Sullivan/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>From safety to peace</h2>
<p>The United Nations marks the annual <a href="https://www.un.org/en/observances/international-day-peace">International Day of Peace</a> on Sept. 21, 2023. </p>
<p>In general, the U.S. does not widely recognize or celebrate global holidays like these, including <a href="https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/america-started-international-womens-day-so-why-don-t-we-celebrate-it-50b10ec7829e">International Women’s Day</a> or <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/04/30/1095729592/what-is-may-day-history">International Labor Day </a>. </p>
<p>But, like peace, safety is about far more than reducing violence. It’s being able to trust that police <a href="https://law.yale.edu/yls-today/news/whats-next-policing">have communities’ interests in mind</a> and knowing that residents will receive fair treatment in the courts. </p>
<p>It’s also being able to breathe clean air and access work and educational opportunities. It’s about being able to openly share past trauma, feel loved and connected, and so much more.</p>
<p>This all has important implications for what Americans want – and what they actually get – from their local governments. When policymakers define safety as the absence of violence and benchmark it primarily against metrics like <a href="https://theconversation.com/republicans-say-crime-is-on-the-rise-what-is-the-crime-rate-and-what-does-it-mean-192900">crime statistics</a>, they limit the kinds of policies that cities and their residents can look to. </p>
<p>Typically, the main policy responses in the U.S. to crime and violence have centered on policing and incarceration.</p>
<p>In contrast, our conversations across Oakland suggest that communities are already using different frameworks and language to assess safety. These in turn offer up a more holistic set of potential interventions. What, we might ask, would city leaders focus on if they were evaluating the success of public safety reforms by whether children are playing outside in the park, or whether people know the names of their neighbors?</p>
<p>Building safety in the U.S. is more akin to building peace internationally than many Americans may think. As we celebrate world peace, we think people should remember that these conversations matter here at home, too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213330/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Dixon received funding for this project from Santa Clara University. He is a Board Member of Everyday Peace Indicators. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy E Lerman received funding for this project from the California Community Foundation / California 100 Initiative.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fiorella Vera-Adrianzen received funding for this project from California Community Foundation / California 100 Initiative through Santa Clara University. She is a research associate at Everyday Peace Indicators.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Naomi Levy received funding for this project from the California Community Foundation / California 100 Initiative. She is a member of the Everyday Peace Indicators Board of Directors. </span></em></p>While Americans tend not to use the word “peace,” and instead opt for terms like “safety and security,” their desires and fears are not so different from what people in war-torn places express.Peter Dixon, Associate Professor of Practice, Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, Columbia UniversityAmy E Lerman, Professor of Political Science & Public Policy and Executive Director, Possibility Lab, University of California, BerkeleyFiorella Vera-Adrianzén, Political science lecturer, Santa Clara UniversityNaomi Levy, Associate Professor of Political Science, Santa Clara UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2131792023-09-19T16:20:00Z2023-09-19T16:20:00ZMexican court ruling upholding women’s right to abortion shows global trend better than US Roe v Wade decision<p>It may surprise you to learn that, over the past 30 years, no fewer than <a href="https://reproductiverights.org/maps/worlds-abortion-laws/">60 countries</a> have liberalised their abortion laws while <a href="https://reproductiverights.org/maps/worlds-abortion-laws/">only four</a> have rolled back abortion rights. The United States is, of course, one of the latter group that has recently restricted women’s access to abortion. </p>
<p>Because the US looms so large in international news coverage of abortion, casual observers often assume that anti-abortion reforms in the US signal a broader global trend or will trigger a domino effect of abortion restrictions. But this view is misguided. It’s important to explore why this is. </p>
<p>In order to understand global abortion trends, we should look across America’s southern border to Mexico. On September 7, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexicos-supreme-court-upholds-abortion-rights-nationwide-paving-way-federal-2023-09-06/">a landmark decision</a> by Mexico’s supreme court found that laws prohibiting abortion were unconstitutional violations of women’s rights. The decision lays the foundation for full decriminalisation of abortion in Mexico – but will have to be enacted in the legislature before it will be the law of the land. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, Mexico’s trajectory is more representative of what is happening across the globe than the US <a href="https://theconversation.com/us-supreme-court-decision-on-abortion-creates-patchwork-of-rights-based-on-where-you-live-186319">supreme court decision of 2022</a> that overturned the constitutional abortion right of Roe v Wade. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/us-supreme-court-decision-on-abortion-creates-patchwork-of-rights-based-on-where-you-live-186319">US Supreme Court decision on abortion creates 'patchwork of rights' based on where you live</a>
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<p>Progress on abortion rights is visible <a href="https://reproductiverights.org/maps/worlds-abortion-laws/">across the world</a>. Mexico is part of a “green wave” across Latin America that has also achieved reforms in <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-64784660">Argentina</a> and <a href="https://read.dukeupress.edu/south-atlantic-quarterly/article/122/2/397/343181/Abortion-Reform-in-Colombia-From-Total-Prohibition">Colombia</a>. But progress is not limited to Latin America. In 2018, Irish voters <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/ireland-votes-to-remove-constitutional-ban-on-abortion-by-resounding-two-thirds-majority-1.3510068">overwhelmingly supported</a> a measure to remove a constitutional abortion ban. </p>
<p>Within the space of two years (2020-2022), Thailand moved from a criminal ban on abortion to <a href="https://time.com/6225758/thailand-abortion-access/">legal abortion up to 20 weeks</a>. In 2021, Benin adopted one of Africa’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/feb/28/benin-africa-liberal-abortion-laws-women-still-dying#:%7E:text=Abortions%20can%20be%20carried%20out,most%20liberal%20laws%20in%20Africa.">most progressive abortion laws</a>, allowing for abortion on a range of grounds up to 12 weeks. India’s supreme court <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10321178/#">expanded abortion rights in 2022</a>, ruling that all Indian women must have the right to safe and legal abortion regardless of their marital status. </p>
<p>So countries such as the USA, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/09/14/poland-abortion-witch-hunt-targets-women-doctors">Poland</a>, <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/el-salvador-women-abortion-obstetric-problems-prison-fight/">El Salvador</a>, and <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/07/31/nicaragua-abortion-ban-threatens-health-and-lives">Nicaragua</a> – the four to roll back abortion rights in recent years – are global outliers. </p>
<h2>Building support for women’s right to choose</h2>
<p>How have these progressive reforms come about? Abortion advocates have achieved successes through engaging with political processes. Argentine activists built a broad-based social movement and multi-party coalition in the legislature to <a href="https://blog.petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2023/03/03/decriminalizing-abortion-in-argentina-8-takeaways-from-the-inflection-point-of-legalization/">legalise abortion in 2020</a>. In Colombia and Mexico, activists used creative legal strategies to achieve change, bringing strategic litigation and establishing themselves as legal experts. </p>
<p>After Mexico’s supreme court struck down a criminal abortion law at the state level in 2021, ruling that <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/7/mexico-supreme-court-says-criminalising-abortion-unconstitutional">criminalising abortion was unconstitutional</a>, NGOs launched a legal campaign to expand that decision nationwide. In last week’s ruling, Mexican courts ruled that abortion <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/7/mexican-supreme-court-decriminalises-abortion-on-federal-level#">should be removed from the federal penal code</a>. </p>
<p>In Colombia, a 2006 court ruling limited legal abortion to a few very narrow grounds. Feminist activists there mobilised to develop and disseminate <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5473042/">progressive interpretations</a> of the law, working with doctors to ensure they could provide abortions while feeling protected from prosecution. In 2022, Colombia’s supreme court decriminalised abortion up to 24 weeks. A <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/mar/24/historic-moment-as-el-salvador-abortion-case-fuels-hopes-for-expanded-access-across-latin-america#:%7E:text=In%20El%20Salvador%2C%20abortion%20is,to%2050%2Dyear%20prison%20sentence">pending case</a> before the Inter-american Court of Human Rights holds out the promise of progress for abortion rights in El Saldavor. </p>
<p>When social movements achieve change in political institutions, they are often capitalising on years of on-the-ground campaigning to shift public opinion on abortion. Latin American activists term this process “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1215/00382876-10405133">social decriminalisation</a>”. Even where criminal anti-abortion laws persist, its social status can change. </p>
<p>Reducing abortion stigma, normalising abortion as a part of reproductive life and mobilising the public against anti-abortion prosecutions are all part of this toolkit. </p>
<p>When public attitudes shift, anti-abortion laws can lose public legitimacy and political elites can find themselves out of step with public opinion. Ireland’s 2018 <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-44256152">abortion referendum</a> showed us this dynamic: although years of opinion polls had consistently showed the constitutional abortion ban was unpopular, Irish politicians sought to avoid the issue. But in 2017, a <a href="https://2016-2018.citizensassembly.ie/en/The-Eighth-Amendment-of-the-Constitution/Final-Report-on-the-Eighth-Amendment-of-the-Constitution/">Citizens Assembly</a> was held on the issue which showed that the public urgently wanted reform. When the abortion ban was put to referendum in 2018, two-thirds of Irish voters supported legal abortion. </p>
<p>Growing availability of self-managed abortion is also an important factor in the global trend towards abortion reform. Self-managed abortion with pills means that safe abortion is easier to access outside of clinical settings and in restrictive contexts. </p>
<p>But self-managed abortion also highlights the political dilemma that governments face when they seek to enforce restrictive abortion laws. If abortion is as easy as taking a few pills that can be bought online, people will self-manage abortions regardless of the laws where they live. Efforts to prosecute them for doing so can provoke a backlash and highlight the illegitimacy of abortion bans. </p>
<p>Campaigners in Northern Ireland capitalised on changing public attitudes, as well as an inquiry by a <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2018/02/uk-violates-womens-rights-northern-ireland-unduly-restricting-access">human rights treaty body</a>, to secure a moratorium on prosecution of self-managed abortion. Abortion has been decriminalised there since 2019. </p>
<p>Abortion rights rollbacks in the US have understandably provoked outrage. Since Roe v Wade was overturned, American states have passed anti-abortion laws that are <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/08/09/1187378801/texas-abortion-law-trial-reproductive-rights">cruel and dehumanising</a>. These anti-abortion laws disproportionately affect <a href="https://www.ifwhenhow.org/resources/self-care-criminalized-preliminary-findings/">the most marginalised</a> and are sure to widen gaps in an already deeply unequal society. </p>
<p>But the American story is an outlier. At a global scale, the trajectory we see on abortion rights is one of slow but continuous progress.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213179/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sydney Calkin receives funding from the Leverhulme Trust and UKRI. She is a volunteer with the Abortion Support Network (UK). </span></em></p>The US is one of just four countries that have rolled back women’s abortion rights in recent years.Sydney Calkin, Reader in Geography, Queen Mary University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2112822023-09-07T15:43:25Z2023-09-07T15:43:25ZColombia: former Farc fighters who signed 2016 peace deal now live amid threats and assassinations<p>Former members of the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/25/farc-che-guevara-era-closes-latin-america-guerrillas">Farc guerrilla army</a> in Colombia who laid down their arms as part of a peace deal in 2016 are being forced off the land they were allowed to settle after they demobilised. </p>
<p>More than 200 families of the Mariana Páez community, about eight hours south of the capital Bogotá in Colombia’s Meta department, have had to flee the hamlet they have lived in following demobilisation due to threats from dissident former Farc fighters who have refused to accept the treaty. </p>
<p>Another group of about 360 people have reportedly also been <a href="https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-07-04/hundreds-of-former-farc-guerrillas-forced-to-flee-their-homes-due-to-death-threats.html">forced off their land</a> at Vista Hermosa, in the same region of Colombia, after the assassinations of two former Farc guerrillas, both signatories to the peace deal, and subsequent death threats.</p>
<p>But the community of Mariana Páez is particularly symbolic. It was the site of the <a href="https://www.elespectador.com/colombia-20/paz-y-memoria/en-fotos-asi-dejaron-las-armas-las-farc-hace-tres-anos-en-mesetas-meta-article/">official ceremony</a> in which the Farc members formally laid down their weapons in 2017. Mariana Páez and Georgina Ortiz (the name of the community in Vista Hermosa) are two of more than <a href="https://www.reincorporacion.gov.co/es/reincorporacion/Documents/ETCR-simple-Pagina-WEB-06022019.pdf">20 reintegration and training spaces</a> built with international support as part of the peace deal signed by the guerrilla group with the Colombian government the previous year. </p>
<p>Nowadays, many of these camps look like other Colombian villages. Only at a second glance one sees the various wall paintings of Che Guevara, former Farc leaders and revolutionary slogans.</p>
<p>“Mariana Páez is our home,” community spokesperson Jasbleidy Cabana told me. “We have built this place and many of us have started families here.” Yet, in March, the community was told to leave by members of a splinter group of former Farc fighters, the <a href="https://insightcrime.org/venezuela-organized-crime-news/ex-farc-mafia-central-general-staff/">Estado Mayor Central (EMC)</a>, that refused to sign the peace agreement.</p>
<h2>The Farc’s demobilisation</h2>
<p>After the 2016 peace deal, some <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20211124-un-hails-colombian-peace-process-despite-setbacks-as-us-moves-to-remove-farc-from-terrorist-list">13,000 Farc members demobilised</a>. They handed over their weapons to the United Nations and joined a programme to assist in reintegrating them into civil society. Since then, almost <a href="https://www.radionacional.co/actualidad/judicial/firmantes-de-paz-asesinados-en-colombia-2023-cnr">400 have been assassinated</a>, and even more have been internally displaced.</p>
<p>The EMC has an estimated <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/colombia-suspends-ceasefire-with-estado-mayor-central-rebels-some-areas-2023-05-22/">3,500 members</a> across 23 of Colombia’s 32 departments. While it seems paradoxical that a group of former Farc fighters would threaten their former comrades who have demobilised, Cabana explains: “The dissidents see us as traitors to Farc’s struggle. Moreover, many current members of the dissidents joined after 2016 and never got to know us.”</p>
<p>The Farc, from which the EMC emerged, started as a Marxist movement – but over the years, the EMC has become heavily involved in criminal activities, particularly narcotics trafficking. The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/20/world/americas/colombia-comandos-armed-groups.html">EMC‘s ranks include</a> former rebels, soldiers, paramilitaries and members of organised criminal groups. </p>
<h2>Political responses</h2>
<p>Colombian politics have done little to change the situation. In 2018, Iván Duque from the right-wing Democratic Center party – which <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/09/world/americas/colombian-opposition-to-peace-deal-feeds-off-gay-rights-backlash.html">fiercely opposed</a> the 2016 peace deal – <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/18/ivan-duque-wins-election-to-become-colombias-president">won the presidency</a>. During his four-year term, his administration <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2019/03/14/colombias-president-ivan-duque-undermines-a-peace-deal">undermined several aspects of the agreement</a>. Limited funding and political support meant that some of the peace deal’s key elements, such as land redistribution and an overhaul of rural Colombia, <a href="https://peaceaccords.nd.edu/barometer/visualizations">remained unfulfilled</a>.</p>
<p>Then, in August 2022, Colombians elected the first left-wing government in the country’s <a href="https://www.lasillavacia.com/la-silla-vacia/podcasts/episodios/%C2%BFes-petro-el-primer-presidente-de-izquierda-en-la-historia-spoiler-no-">recent history</a>. The new president, Gustavo Petro, promised to implement the 2016 peace deal more thoroughly and seek additional peace settlements with any armed groups still active. “We have to comply with the peace agreement because that is how we can tell the other armed groups out there that the state is complying,” Petro <a href="https://www.infobae.com/colombia/2023/02/22/gustavo-petro-y-su-llamado-a-la-paz-total-se-acabo-esa-historia-en-donde-el-estado-traiciona-y-mata-al-que-acuerda-la-paz/">announced in February</a> .</p>
<p>One success of Petro’s so-called “<a href="https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/petro-colombia-eln-insurgency-conflict-farc-violence/?share=email&messages%5B0%5D=one-time-read-success">total peace</a>” initiative has been ongoing peace talks and a ceasefire since early August with the National Liberation Army (ELN), another leftist guerrilla group. Negotiations with this group in the past had been particularly complicated, given the group’s decentralised organisational structure, considerable autonomy of different regional units, and ideological inflexibility. </p>
<p>But this ceasefire is limited to exchanges between the ELN and the Colombian military. On August 20, violent clashes between the ELN and the EMC led to the <a href="https://www.lasillavacia.com/la-silla-vacia/envivo/en-samaniego-narino-mas-de-400-familias-desplazadas-por-enfrentamientos-entre-armados">displacement of 400 families</a> in Samaniego, a municipality in the south-western Nariño department. In early September, the Red Cross <a href="https://www.lasillavacia.com/la-silla-vacia/envivo/arrecia-la-guerra-entre-eln-y-disidencias-de-las-farc-en-arauca">reported</a> clashes between these two groups, leading to the killings of ten people in the eastern Arauca department.</p>
<p>Similarly, the Colombian government’s negotiations with other groups are complex. In March, the government suspended a ceasefire with the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2023/colombia-drug-trafficking-agc-negotiation/">Gulf Clan</a> (formally the Gaitanist Self-Defence Forces of Colombia), a powerful criminal organisation which controls much of the drug trafficking across large parts of Colombia.</p>
<h2>Symbolism for Colombia</h2>
<p>So the evictions from the Mariana Paéz community are symbolic of the challenging task of achieving peace in Colombia, where lucrative illicit economies, such as the drugs trade and <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/closer-look-colombias-illegal-artisanal-and-small-scale-mining">illegal gold mining</a> continue to provide incentives for armed groups to operate. </p>
<p>In late May, the Colombian government <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/colombia-suspends-ceasefire-with-estado-mayor-central-rebels-some-areas-2023-05-22/">suspended its ceasefire</a> with the EMC in four Colombian departments, including Meta, after the group forcibly recruited four indigenous teenagers and shot them when they attempted to escape. </p>
<p>This led the people of Mariana Páez to leave the community, even though the EMC officially <a href="https://www.elespectador.com/colombia-20/conflicto/disidencias-de-ivan-mordisco-dicen-que-no-atentaran-contra-excombatientes-de-farc-mesetas-meta/">retracted</a> its threats. “There are no guarantees for our lives, and also, the housing available is not dignified,” Cabana told me. </p>
<p>The families moved on August 10 to a nearby municipality, where the Colombian government has provided land that the community hopes will allow them to grow crops.</p>
<p>The community’s decision is thus emblematic of the security situation in rural Colombia. Announcements in early September by the government and the EMC that <a href="https://www.infobae.com/colombia/2023/09/02/firman-acuerdo-especial-para-conversaciones-de-paz-con-el-estado-mayor-central-de-las-farc/">a new ceasefire and peace negotiations</a> will soon begin provide hope. But the past has shown too often that violence and instability will persist. Providing security and enabling the reintegration of former Farc members into society will likely remain a major challenge.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211282/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christoph Sponsel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>They used to fight the state and now want to be part of society – but after demobilisation, thousands of former Farc guerrillas face violence and displacementChristoph Sponsel, PhD Candidate in Political Science, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2114582023-08-16T07:29:49Z2023-08-16T07:29:49ZEcuador: how this ‘island of peace’ in Latin America has become a hotbed of violence run by criminal gangs and drug cartels<p>After <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-66457472">the assassination</a> of Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in Quito on August 9, former president Rafael Correa posted a message on his social media feed: “<a href="https://twitter.com/MashiRafael/status/1689463483732033536">Ecuador has become a failed state</a>.” It was a stark message as the country prepares to go to the polls on Sunday August 20.</p>
<p>Villavicencio’s shooting followed the murder on July 23 of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-66289355">Agustín Intriago</a>, the mayor of the port city of Manta, and <a href="https://gazettengr.com/candidate-assassinated-ahead-of-national-assembly-election-in-ecuador/">that of Rider Sánchez</a>, who was running for a seat in the national assembly when he was shot dead on July 17 while campaigning in the northern coastal province of Esmeraldas. </p>
<p>Sunday’s parliamentary and presidential election are being held as a result of outgoing president Guillermo Lasso dissolving parliament in May. Lasso <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/ecuador-president-dissolves-legislature-bringing-elections-forward-2023-05-17/">faced impeachment by opposition parties</a> over allegations of connections to corrupt government contracts, something he and his supporters <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/16/impeachment-hearing-begins-in-ecuador-against-president-lasso">vehemently deny</a>. Villavicencio campaigned on a pro-security and anti-corruption platform and, while not considered a frontrunner, his assassination deeply shocked the nation.</p>
<h2>Island of peace?</h2>
<p>Sitting between Colombia to the north and Peru to the south, two of the world’s largest producers of cocaine, Ecuador was until recently known as an “island of peace” in this war-torn region. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542798/original/file-20230815-19-70up5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Locator map of Ecuador showing Colombia and Peru." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542798/original/file-20230815-19-70up5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542798/original/file-20230815-19-70up5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542798/original/file-20230815-19-70up5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542798/original/file-20230815-19-70up5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542798/original/file-20230815-19-70up5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542798/original/file-20230815-19-70up5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542798/original/file-20230815-19-70up5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Ecuador sits between Colombia and Peru, two of the world’s biggest producers of cocaine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/world-map-south-american-continent-peru-2333922879">Libin Jose/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>This had a great deal to do with the success of Correa’s policy while president from 2007-2017 of <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/3/26/18281325/ecuador-legalize-gangs">effectively legalising gangs</a> as “cultural associations” or urban youth groups. This allowed them to apply for government funding and grants in return for a pledge to end violence. </p>
<p>Correa’s policy saw the country’s <a href="https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/ecuador-crime-lasso-corruption-politics-protests-violence/?loggedin=1">homicide rate fall sharply</a>. In the past five years, however, the murder rate has begun to increase sharply again, making Ecuador one of the region’s <a href="https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/ECU/ecuador/murder-homicide-rate">most violent countries</a>.</p>
<p>Villaviciencio had already made plenty of enemies when he took up politics, having exposed multiple cases of corruption during his time as a journalist. In January, while still a member of the national assembly before its dissolution, Villavicencio <a href="https://apnews.com/article/725a9f1ba7bb9f5f9796b1e2fe121946">denounced 21 mayoral candidates</a> for alleged links to drug trafficking. He also revealed he’d received death threats from <em>Los Choneros</em>, one of Ecuador’s most powerful “mega-gangs”, involved in illegal activities ranging from <a href="https://insightcrime.org/ecuador-organized-crime-news/ecuador-profile/">narco-trafficking to contract killings and extortion</a>.</p>
<p>Villavicencio’s killer was shot by security forces in the immediate aftermath of the attack, and six further suspects have been detained. They are <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-66489199#">all of Colombian origin</a> and reportedly members of criminal groups. After decades of armed conflict, Colombia has a reputation for producing and exporting <a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/07/26/colombian-mercenaries-haiti-jovenel-moise-assassination/">contract killers</a>. Both <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-57762246">Haiti’s former president, Jovenel Moïse</a>, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/18/four-jailed-in-colombia-for-honeymoon-of-prosecutor">Paraguayan anti-corruption prosecutor Marcelo Pecci</a> were assassinated by Colombian mercenaries. </p>
<h2>Culture of violence</h2>
<p>As recently as 2018, Ecuador had <a href="https://insightcrime.org/news/analysis/insight-crime-2018-homicide-roundup/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=7466034b-64f2-44a1-ace5-13c89cd0dac0">one of the lowest annual homicide rates in Latin America</a>, at 5.7 people per 100,000. This compared favourably with neighbouring <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/984798/homicide-rate-colombia/#:%7E:text=In%202022%2C%20there%20were%20approximately,of%2026.8%20a%20year%20earlier.">Colombia at 25</a> people per 100,000, <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/867725/homicide-rate-brazil/#:%7E:text=Brazil%3A%20homicide%20rate%202012%2D2021&text=In%202021%2C%20the%20homicide%20rate,in%20the%20country%20since%202012.">Brazil at 27.6</a> and <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/984669/homicide-rate-venezuela/">Venezuela at 81.4</a> – a rate which has since fallen to the (still-calamitous) level of 40 murders per 100,000 people.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542819/original/file-20230815-19-5xb8yc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Bar chart showing homicide rate in Ecuador" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542819/original/file-20230815-19-5xb8yc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542819/original/file-20230815-19-5xb8yc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542819/original/file-20230815-19-5xb8yc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542819/original/file-20230815-19-5xb8yc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542819/original/file-20230815-19-5xb8yc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542819/original/file-20230815-19-5xb8yc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542819/original/file-20230815-19-5xb8yc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">After falling in the early 2000s up to 2016, the homicide rate in Ecuador has risen rapidly over the past few years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Statista</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But following a recent sharp rise in drug trafficking and gang violence, Ecuador is now one of the region’s four most violent countries. The latest data shows the homicide rate <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/why-has-ecuador-become-so-violent-2023-08-10/#">increasing to 22 people per 100,000 in 2022</a> – above the average of 20 per 100,000 for Latin America (but still below that of Colombia at 27 per 100,000). </p>
<p>Much of this violence is directed from the country’s jails, which are now <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/07/26/americas/ecuador-drug-violence-crisis-explainer-intl/index.html#:%7E:text=The%20country%20has%20also%20lost,a%20series%20of%20macabre%20massacres.">virtually controlled by criminal gangs</a>. Despite being incarcerated, gang leaders control a wide range of criminal activities – including networks which move cocaine from Colombia and Peru through Ecuador’s massive ports into major drug markets in Europe and the US.</p>
<p>Ecuador itself isn’t a major drug-producer and, unlike Colombia, has no history of guerilla or paramilitary activity. Yet, in the past 15 years, the country developed into a major logistical hub for international criminal organisations. In an <a href="https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-66469463">interview with BBC Mundo</a> in 2019, Ecuador’s former director of military intelligence, Colonel Mario Pazmiño, estimated that 40% of Colombia’s cocaine production transited via Ecuador – and data on seizures and raids on processing labs suggests Ecuador’s role as a transit hub has <a href="https://insightcrime.org/news/insight-crimes-cocaine-seizure-round-up-2022/">increased further since then</a>.</p>
<p>Colombia’s 2016 peace agreement and the resulting dismantling of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) was a turning point. Until then, Farc controlled drug trafficking routes from southern Colombia to Ecuadorean ports. Its dismantling led to the creation of dissident groups in Colombia, and opened the door to Mexican criminal organisations attempting to gain control of Farc routes. </p>
<p>According to the UN’s 2023 Global Report on Cocaine, the <em>Cártel de Sinaloa</em> and <em>Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación</em> “<a href="https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/cocaine/Global_cocaine_report_2023.pdf">largely control the trafficking corridors between Mexico and the US</a>” and are fighting for supremacy. Villaviciencio had campaigned on the growth of this drug trafficking and explicitly named the organisations involved, for which he was murdered.</p>
<h2>Bleak outlook</h2>
<p>The outlook for Ecuador isn’t promising. Global demand for cocaine continues to increase and production in Colombia is <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/colombias-potential-cocaine-production-record-high-un-says-2022-10-20/">at a record high</a>. The UN estimates that one-third of Colombia’s illicit coca fields are located within 10km of its frontier with Ecuador. </p>
<p>This can only mean that Ecuador’s role in the drug supply chains continues to grow in importance, especially as peace efforts in Colombia continue. Venezuela, through which 24% of global cocaine production transits, <a href="https://dialogo-americas.com/articles/is-venezuela-becoming-a-major-cocaine-producer/#:%7E:text=The%20world%27s%20fourth%20cocaine%2Dproducing%20country&text=According%20to%20the%20same%20report,even%20as%20the%20country%20collapses.">has a similar problem</a></p>
<p>After three days of mourning for Villavicencio, campaigning has resumed ahead of the election on August 20. Opinions polls show that security is by far the biggest concern for voters, and all candidates are campaigning on the issue – understandable in the wake of Villavicencio’s murder. But in a country where <a href="https://www.latinobarometro.org/lat.jsp">87% of people don’t trust democracy itself</a>, the outlook is gloomy, to say the least.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211458/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicolas Forsans does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ecuador’s murder rate has shot up in recent years and now a presidential candidate has been assassinated.Nicolas Forsans, Professor of Management and Co-director of the Centre for Latin American & Caribbean Studies, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2077972023-06-15T17:37:26Z2023-06-15T17:37:26ZCrowdsourcing new constitutions: How 2 Latin American countries increased participation and empowered groups excluded from politics – podcast<p>Over the past few decades, countries across Latin America have witnessed a surge in demands by its people for increased political participation and representation. Colombia and Chile stand out as notable examples of countries responding to these calls with constitutional reform. </p>
<p>Colombia’s 1991 constitution emerged from <a href="http://ips-project.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/The-1991-Colombian-National-Constituent-Assembly.pdf">a backdrop of armed conflict and social unrest</a>. It represented a turning point in the country’s history by acknowledging the multicultural fabric of Colombian society, including Indigenous communities and Afro-Colombian populations.</p>
<p>Likewise in Chile, the government has embarked on a journey of constitutional reform in response to the widespread discontent and social unrest that erupted in 2019. The protests reflected grievances related to inequality, education, health care and pension systems, and a desire to replace the constitution imposed during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. </p>
<p>Under the new government of progressive president Gabriel Boric, <a href="https://theconversation.com/chiles-progressive-new-constitution-rejected-by-voters-after-campaign-marred-by-misinformation-190371">a draft constitution was presented to the people</a>. The draft included progressive elements such as gender parity, Indigenous rights and a restructuring of the parliamentary system to distribute power more evenly. </p>
<p>The draft was ultimately rejected in a referendum in September 2022, although some commentators argue that the process remains a victory for democracy.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/chiles-progressive-new-constitution-rejected-by-voters-after-campaign-marred-by-misinformation-190371">Chile's progressive new constitution rejected by voters after campaign marred by misinformation</a>
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<p>In this week’s episode of <em>The Conversation Weekly</em>, we speak with two researchers about Latin America’s ongoing democratic transition, with a particular focus on the involvement of populations in democratic processes in Colombia and Chile. </p>
<p>We examine how countries are looking to empower their populations through crowdsourcing participation, what the implications of these reforms for marginalized communities are and how Chile’s rejection of a progressive constitution remains a significant step for empowering citizens.</p>
<iframe src="https://embed.acast.com/60087127b9687759d637bade/648b152cc6f9af0011f94bb1" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="190px"></iframe>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-561" class="tc-infographic" height="100" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/561/4fbbd099d631750693d02bac632430b71b37cd5f/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Crowdsourcing the constitution</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/carlos-bernal-1447440">Carlos Bernal</a> is a professor of law at the University of Dayton in the United States and commissioner of the America Human Rights Commission. As part of his research, he focuses on what he calls “constitutional crowdsourcing,” a process by which governments gather the opinions, views and demands of their populations in the making of a constitution. </p>
<p>The basic idea is that in a democracy, everyone should have the chance to participate and define the institutions that preside over them. Bernal says, as societies change, so do the social and political values of that society — and this change can be a challenge to a constitution. “If a constitution becomes a stagnant in the past, that constitution is not able, is not relevant anymore.”</p>
<p>To reflect those shifts, countries can either enact legislation to supplement the constitution, or they can specify the meaning of the constitution without changing the wording. But in certain instances, simple amendments of a constitution might not be enough to reflect those social shifts. </p>
<p>“And when there is a big gap between the constitution text and the constitutional reality,” Bernal adds, “the constitution must be replaced to create a new institutional framework that is able to regulate your society.”</p>
<h2>Political inclusion</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jennifer-m-piscopo-378304">Jennifer Piscopo</a> is an associate professor of politics at Occidental College in Los Angeles, in the United States. Her work focuses on representation, gender quotas and legislative institutions in Latin America, and how countries involve underrepresented groups in political processes. </p>
<p>She says that during Latin America’s democratic transition in the 1980s, “women were very active in the human rights movements that criticized the abuses under authoritarian governments. They were very active in the peace movements that really urged for an end to the conflict in Central America.”</p>
<p>But she says when democratic systems began replacing authoritarian governments, there was a gap between women’s roles as activists and in the democratic transition, versus the kinds of opportunities they had in politics. So when, in September 2022, <a href="https://theconversation.com/chiles-progressive-new-constitution-rejected-by-voters-after-campaign-marred-by-misinformation-190371">the new draft constitution was rejected</a>, many observers were perplexed. Some analysis argued the government’s radically democratic process had been too ambitious.</p>
<p>As a result, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/chile-starts-second-attempt-draft-new-constitution-2023-03-06/">the government initiated a second, more institutional process for drafting a new constitution</a>, which removed certain representational quotas for Indigenous people and women that had characterized the first constitutional process.</p>
<p>But according to Piscopo, although the first draft was rejected, “there is still an appetite for processes that are more open and more democratic. The challenge is, electorates are fickle and how do you hold someone’s attention and someone’s preferences in a stable way as everyday politics is pushing them around?”</p>
<p>Listen to the full episode of <em>The Conversation Weekly</em> to learn more about Latin America’s democratic transition, crowdsourcing constitutional processes, and what their impact means for marginalized groups. </p>
<hr>
<p>This episode was written and produced by Mend Mariwany, who is also the executive producer of The Conversation Weekly. Eloise Stevens does our sound design, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl.</p>
<p>You can find us on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TC_Audio">@TC_Audio</a>, on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">theconversationdotcom</a> or <a href="mailto:podcast@theconversation.com">via email</a>. You can also subscribe to The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter">free daily email here</a>. </p>
<p>Listen to <em>The Conversation Weekly</em> via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our <a href="https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/60087127b9687759d637bade">RSS feed</a> or find out <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-listen-to-the-conversations-podcasts-154131">how else to listen here</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207797/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Piscopo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article. She is a Senior Advisor to the Gender Equity Policy Institute in Los Angeles, United States.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carlos Bernal does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article. He is commissioner of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission.</span></em></p>People across Latin America are demanding greater political participation. Some countries, including Colombia and Chile, have responded by involving citizens in the making of their constitutions.Mend Mariwany, Producer, The Conversation Weekly, The Conversation Weekly PodcastNehal El-Hadi, Science + Technology Editor & Co-Host of The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2077622023-06-14T15:01:47Z2023-06-14T15:01:47ZHow traditional Indigenous education helped four lost children survive 40 days in the Amazon jungle<p>The discovery and rescue of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/four-missing-colombian-children-found-alive-jungle-sources-2023-06-10/">four young Indigenous children</a>, 40 days after the aircraft they were travelling in crashed in the remote Colombian rainforest, was hailed in the international press as a “<a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/06/11/miracle-in-the-jungle-colombia-celebrates-rescue-of-children-lost-in-amazon-rainforest_6030840_4.html">miracle in the jungle</a>”. But as an anthropologist who has spent more than a year living among the Andoque people in the region, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/100474974/Amazonian_visions_of_Visi%C3%B3n_Amazon%C3%ADa_Indigenous_Peoples_perspectives_on_a_forest_conservation_and_climate_programme_in_the_Colombian_Amazon">conducting ethnographic fieldwork</a>, I cannot simply label this as a miraculous event. </p>
<p>At least, not a miracle in the conventional sense of the word. Rather, the survival and discovery of these children can be attributed to the profound knowledge of the intricate forest and the adaptive skills passed down through generations by Indigenous people.</p>
<p>During the search for the children, I was in contact with Raquel Andoque, an elder <em>maloquera</em> (owner of a ceremonial longhouse), the sister of the children’s great-grandmother. She repeatedly expressed her unwavering belief the children would be found alive, citing the autonomy, astuteness and physical resilience of children in the region.</p>
<p>Even before starting elementary school, children in this area accompany their parents and elder relatives in various activities such as gardening, fishing, navigating rivers, hunting and gathering honey and wild fruits. In this way the children acquire practical skills and knowledge, such as those demonstrated by Lesly, Soleiny, Tien and Cristin during their 40-day ordeal.</p>
<p>Indigenous children typically learn from an early age how to open paths through dense vegetation, how to tell edible from non-edible fruits. They know how to find potable water, build rain shelters and set animal traps. They can identify animal footprints and scents – and avoid predators such as jaguars and snakes lurking in the woods.</p>
<p>Amazonian children typically lack access to the sort of commercialised toys and games that children in the cities grow up with. So they become adept tree climbers and engage in play that teaches them about adult tools made from natural materials, such as oars or axes. This nurtures their understanding of physical activities and helps them learn which plants serve specific purposes.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A youg girl holding up an insect as her family works alongside" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532019/original/file-20230614-31-hrdd5z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532019/original/file-20230614-31-hrdd5z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532019/original/file-20230614-31-hrdd5z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532019/original/file-20230614-31-hrdd5z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532019/original/file-20230614-31-hrdd5z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532019/original/file-20230614-31-hrdd5z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532019/original/file-20230614-31-hrdd5z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A local Indigenous girl on an excursion to gather edible larvae.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image courtesy of Eliran Arazi</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Activities that most western children would be shielded from – handling, skinning and butchering game animals, for example – provide invaluable zoology lessons and arguably foster emotional resilience.</p>
<h2>Survival skills</h2>
<p>When they accompany their parents and relatives on excursions in the jungle, Indigenous children learn how to navigate a forest’s dense vegetation by following the location of the sun in the sky. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532012/original/file-20230614-29-ii5s0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map of the Middle Caqueta region of Colombia." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532012/original/file-20230614-29-ii5s0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532012/original/file-20230614-29-ii5s0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532012/original/file-20230614-29-ii5s0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532012/original/file-20230614-29-ii5s0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532012/original/file-20230614-29-ii5s0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532012/original/file-20230614-29-ii5s0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532012/original/file-20230614-29-ii5s0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Map showing where in Colombia the four lost children are from.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source"> Gadiel Levi</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since the large rivers in most parts of the Amazon flow in a direction opposite to that of the sun, people can orient themselves towards those main rivers. </p>
<p>The trail of footprints and objects left by the four children revealed their general progression towards the Apaporis River, where they may have hoped to be spotted.</p>
<p>The children would also have learned from their parents and elders about edible plans and flowers – where they can be found. And also the interrelationship between plants, so that where a certain tree is, you can find mushrooms, or small animals that can be trapped and eaten.</p>
<h2>Stories, songs and myths</h2>
<p>Knowledge embedded in mythic stories passed down by parents and grandparents is another invaluable resource for navigating the forest. These stories depict animals as fully sentient beings, engaging in seduction, mischief, providing sustenance, or even saving each other’s lives. </p>
<p>While these episodes may seem incomprehensible to non-Indigenous audiences, they actually encapsulate the intricate interrelations among the forest’s countless non-human inhabitants. Indigenous knowledge focuses on the interrelationships between humans, plants and animals and how they can come together to preserve the environment and prevent irreversible ecological harm. </p>
<p>This sophisticated knowledge has been developed over millennia during which Indigenous people not only adapted to their forest territories but actively shaped them. It is deeply ingrained knowledge that local indigenous people are taught from early childhood so that it becomes second nature to them. </p>
<p>It has become part of the culture of cultivating and harvesting crops, something infants and children are introduced to, as well as knowledge of all sort of different food sources and types of bush meat.</p>
<h2>Looking after each other</h2>
<p>One of the aspects of this “miraculous” story that people in the west have marvelled over is how, after the death of the children’s mother, the 13-year-old Lesly managed to take care of her younger siblings, including Cristin, who was only 11 months old at the time the aircraft went down.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Three Indigenous people in western clothes stood under trees in front of a wide building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532007/original/file-20230614-19-7q92j0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532007/original/file-20230614-19-7q92j0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532007/original/file-20230614-19-7q92j0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532007/original/file-20230614-19-7q92j0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532007/original/file-20230614-19-7q92j0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532007/original/file-20230614-19-7q92j0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532007/original/file-20230614-19-7q92j0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Iris Andoque Macuna with her brother Nestor Andoque and brother-in-law Faustino Fiagama after the two men returned from the search team.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Iris Andoque Macuna.</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But in Indigenous families, elder sisters are expected to act as surrogate mothers to their younger relatives from an early age. Iris Andoke Macuna, a distant relative of the family, told me: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>To some whites [non-Indigenous people], it seems like a bad thing that we take our children to work in the garden, and that we let girls carry their brothers and take care of them. But for us, it’s a good thing, our children are independent, this is why Lesly could take care of her brothers during all this time. It toughened her, and she learned what her brothers need. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The spiritual side</h2>
<p>For 40 days and nights, while the four children were lost, elders and shamans performed rituals based on traditional beliefs that involve human relationships with entities known as <em>dueños</em> (owners) in Spanish and by various names in native languages (such as <em>i'bo ño̰e</em>, meaning “persons of there” in Andoque). </p>
<p>These owners are believed to be the protective spirits of the plants and animals that live in the forests. Children are introduced to these powerful owners in name-giving ceremonies, which ensure that these spirits recognise and acknowledge relationship to the territory and their entitlement to prosper on it.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman in pink t-shirt sat on chair inside." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531997/original/file-20230614-15389-7c6oly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531997/original/file-20230614-15389-7c6oly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531997/original/file-20230614-15389-7c6oly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531997/original/file-20230614-15389-7c6oly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531997/original/file-20230614-15389-7c6oly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531997/original/file-20230614-15389-7c6oly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531997/original/file-20230614-15389-7c6oly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Raquel Andoke, a relative of the missing children and friend of the author.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image courtesy of Eliran Arazi</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During the search for the missing children, elders conducted dialogues and negotiations with these entities in their ceremonial houses (<em>malocas</em>) throughout the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Middle-and-Lower-Caqueta-River-region-State-of-Amazonas-Colombia-Map-from_fig1_255580310">Middle Caquetá</a> and in other Indigenous communities that consider the crash site part of their ancestral territory. Raquel explained to me:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The shamans communicate with the sacred sites. They offer coca and tobacco to the spirits and say: “Take this and give me my grandchildren back. They are mine, not yours.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These beliefs and practices hold significant meaning for my friends in the Middle Caquetá, who firmly attribute the children’s survival to these spiritual processes rather than the technological means employed by the Colombian army rescue teams. </p>
<p>It may be challenging for non-Indigenous people to embrace these traditional ideas. But these beliefs would have instilled in the children the faith and emotional fortitude crucial for persevering in the struggle for survival. And it would have encouraged the Indigenous people searching for them not to give up hope. </p>
<p>The children knew that their fate did not lie in dying in the forest, and that their grandparents and shamans would move heaven and earth to bring them back home alive.</p>
<p>Regrettably, this traditional knowledge that has enabled Indigenous people to not only survive but thrive in the Amazon for millennia is under threat. Increasing land encroachment for agribusiness, mining, and illicit activities as well as state neglect and interventions without Indigenous consent have left these peoples vulnerable. </p>
<p>It is jeopardising the very foundations of life where this knowledge is embedded, the territories that serve as its bedrock, and the people themselves who preserve, develop, and transmit this knowledge.</p>
<p>Preserving this invaluable knowledge and the skills that bring miracles to life is imperative. We must not allow them to wither away.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207762/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eliran Arazi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Indigenous children are taught jungle lore and survival skills from an early age.Eliran Arazi, PhD researcher in Anthropology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (Paris)., Hebrew University of JerusalemLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2036032023-04-18T16:12:03Z2023-04-18T16:12:03ZPablo Escobar’s ‘cocaine hippos’ are a problem – but a lot of thought is going into preventing their spread<p>Last week, Colombia recorded its first road traffic incident involving a hippopotamus. A <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/12/calls-action-on-colombia-hippo-scourge-animal-dies-road-crash">car collided with the animal</a> at speed leaving it dead on the road. </p>
<p>The hippo was a descendent of the four animals that notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/oryx/article/potential-ecological-and-socioeconomic-effects-of-a-novel-megaherbivore-introduction-the-hippopotamus-in-colombia/8191CD050B5208617BA834D394145AC1">imported from a zoo in the US</a> to his luxurious Hacienda Nápoles estate in Colombia in the 1980s. The four hippos, which included three females and one male, were abandoned after Escobar’s death in 1993 due to the difficulty associated with moving them to a wildlife sanctuary. The hippos then escaped the untended estate and spread along the <a href="https://archive.internationalrivers.org/campaigns/magdalena-river">Magdalena River</a>. </p>
<p>They have since bred and have multiplied to <a href="https://apnews.com/article/colombia-hippopotamus-relocation-mexico-india-4bb9441be82839b4f10dd89c748d1bd3">around 130 animals</a>. But in the wild, the hippos are fast becoming a problem. Hippo attacks on people are <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/in-colombia-escobars-hippos-spawn-another-problem-wildlife-trafficking/#:%7E:text=While%20the%20animal%20is%20notorious,to%20hippo%20attacks%20in%20Colombia.">on the rise</a> and an illegal trafficking industry has developed around their capture and sale. </p>
<p>Ecologists also warn that large herbivores such as hippos are upsetting Colombia’s delicate aquatic ecosystems. By excreting waste into lakes and rivers, hippos can <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ecy.2991?casa_token=MLHTg_aPhh0AAAAA%3ALDgaJSsh6wBZIH-Xf9w1FVcJTlJ_6ndASRxnxJ_BSMby62VOLK5HGPY4ghKlCeyiccPEN87mQPS3dG_f">change the composition</a> of the surrounding water. This water provides habitat for animals including <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/manatee#ref14338">manatees</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/capybara-genus">capybaras</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of hippos with their heads out of the water." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520924/original/file-20230413-16-pj7fc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520924/original/file-20230413-16-pj7fc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520924/original/file-20230413-16-pj7fc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520924/original/file-20230413-16-pj7fc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520924/original/file-20230413-16-pj7fc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520924/original/file-20230413-16-pj7fc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520924/original/file-20230413-16-pj7fc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Environmental authorities are concerned that the hippos may be degrading Colombia’s delicate aquatic ecosystems.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://openverse.org/image/eeedf590-2397-48e5-a9ec-f94e4bfd597b?q=hippo%20colombia">FICG.mx/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The hippos are now <a href="https://www.minambiente.gov.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Resolucion-0346-de-2022.pdf">officially listed</a> as an invasive species that need to be controlled. But how to best manage them has long troubled the country’s environment ministry. </p>
<h2>Managing Escobar’s hippos</h2>
<p>In 2009, the Colombian environmental agency ordered hunters to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jul/14/hunters-kill-escobar-fugitive-hippo">kill three hippos</a> amid concerns they were damaging crops and endangering humans. A hippo, nicknamed Pepe, was killed as a result. Photos of the dead hippo went viral and <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/oryx/article/potential-ecological-and-socioeconomic-effects-of-a-novel-megaherbivore-introduction-the-hippopotamus-in-colombia/8191CD050B5208617BA834D394145AC1">sparked a global outcry</a>.</p>
<p>The culling promptly ended and the fate of the remaining hippos is now to be decided by <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=17167775334235737642&hl=en&as_sdt=2006">two ongoing legal cases</a>. I have analysed both cases as part of my research and it’s my opinion that they are evidence of good practise in controlling invasive species. This is because the <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2075-471X/12/2/29#B11-laws-12-00029">interests of the animals</a> are being considered – a luxury that is not afforded to most invasive animal species.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320720309812">Three strategies</a> have been proposed to control Colombia’s hippo population: euthanasia, relocation to zoos and animal sanctuaries abroad and fertility control.</p>
<p>Euthanasia represents the cheapest and fastest method to control Colombia’s hippo population. It is, however, a controversial strategy and would involve up to 30 hippos a year being killed. Those who oppose the strategy argue that it is clearly not in the interests of the hippos.</p>
<p>The relocation programme instead involves moving 70 hippos to zoos and animal sanctuaries in <a href="https://apnews.com/article/colombia-hippopotamus-relocation-mexico-india-4bb9441be82839b4f10dd89c748d1bd3">India and Mexico</a> that are capable of caring for them. But hippos are aggressive and very large, so they are difficult to capture and transport. Many of those that remain will therefore have their fertility controlled.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://openargs.com/wp-content/uploads/2021.10.15-Escobar-hippos-Maldonado-decl.pdf">fertility control programme</a> will use a drug called Porcine Zona Pellucida to reduce the fertility of the female hippos. The same drug is used to control hippo birth rates in zoos. Such a strategy will reduce wild hippo numbers over longer periods of time and will eventually lower the threat they pose to people and the environment. </p>
<p>Used together, the fertility control and relocation strategies would help to control Colombia’s hippo population. And, though the animals would be in captivity or unable to raise offspring, the plans are more humane than the alternative of being killed.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of hippos in water at a zoo." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521565/original/file-20230418-22-fmudva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521565/original/file-20230418-22-fmudva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521565/original/file-20230418-22-fmudva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521565/original/file-20230418-22-fmudva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521565/original/file-20230418-22-fmudva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521565/original/file-20230418-22-fmudva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521565/original/file-20230418-22-fmudva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hippo birthrates are already controlled in zoos.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/group-hippo-hippopotamus-water-zoo-1757747858">Mai.Chayakorn/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Good invasive species management?</h2>
<p>These are not perfect solutions. Controlling hippo fertility will not immediately reduce the wild population. As a result, it risks prolonging the threat of conflict between humans and hippos. It also does little to protect the environment in the short term.</p>
<p><a href="https://openargs.com/wp-content/uploads/2021.10.15-Escobar-hippos-Maldonado-decl.pdf">Research</a> also suggests that between 70% and 80% of Colombia’s wild female hippos will need to be sterilised for the strategy to be effective. Sterilising this amount of hippos would eventually stabilise the population. But how long this would take has not yet been disclosed.</p>
<p>Both of these strategies are expensive. Relocating the hippos will cost around <a href="https://openargs.com/wp-content/uploads/2021.10.15-Escobar-hippos-Maldonado-decl.pdf">US$3.5 (£2.8) million</a>, and fertility treatment costs <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-56011594">US$50,000</a> for each hippo. Funding may be diverted away from conservation efforts elsewhere in favour of humanely tackling Colombia’s rising hippo population. </p>
<h2>Moving Forward</h2>
<p>Invasive species tend to be <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=jyiFDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT11&ots=neCZG3zIB6&sig=i2pWbslynGj3YbrGFZGAyNG1qWI&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">perceived as threats</a> which need to be exterminated. Many countries allow invasive animals to be killed by any means necessary to control their population. Policies carried out with the aim of controlling these animals are therefore <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10806-020-09825-0">often unethical</a>. </p>
<p>The Colombian hippo case demonstrates that invasive animal species can be controlled and have their interests taken into account at the same time. But it is important to recognise that when compared to other invasive species, these hippos may have been given preferential treatment. This likely stems from the high-profile nature of the case that, given its association to Pablo Escobar, has captured the attention of the public.</p>
<p>There are, however, some aspects of the Colombian hippo case that could be applied to invasive species management more broadly. When euthanasia is the preferred option, choosing methods that limit animal suffering should be prioritised. </p>
<p>Grey squirrels, for example, are considered a pest species within the UK and can be <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10806-020-09825-0">legally killed</a> using methods such as poisoning and traps. But more humane alternatives, such as using oral contraceptives, exist that would also keep their population in check.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/grey-squirrels-is-birth-control-the-solution-to-britains-invasive-species-problem-154400">Grey squirrels: is birth control the solution to Britain's invasive species problem?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Colombia’s wild hippo population has become a problem. Inevitably, the species will need to be managed to avoid further harm to the animals, the wider environment and to prevent conflict with humans. </p>
<p>The case of Pablo Escobar’s invasive hippos is unique. Yet it could be seen as a step in the right direction for invasive species management. Despite the preferred management options being expensive and often failing to immediately curb the animals spread, they avoid unnecessary killings and encourage more creative solutions to emerge.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203603/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elliot Doornbos does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Pablo Escobar’s hippos escaped in the 1990s – since then, they have become a problem.Elliot Doornbos, Senior Lecturer of Criminology, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2003862023-02-24T11:29:29Z2023-02-24T11:29:29ZSouth Africa’s intelligence agency needs speedy reform - or it must be shut down<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512012/original/file-20230223-2271-8qc43o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mondli Gungubele, former minister in the Presidency, was in charge of intelligence.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Siyabulela Duga/GCIS</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africa’s <a href="https://www.gov.za/documents/intelligence-white-paper">civilian intelligence service</a>, the State Security Agency, is a broken institution. It is meant to provide intelligence to forewarn the country about national security threats. </p>
<p>Powerful individuals aligned to former president <a href="https://www.thepresidency.gov.za/profiles/president-jacob-zuma-0">Jacob Zuma</a>, presumably at his behest, repurposed the institution to help him maintain his grip on <a href="http://www.saflii.org/images/state-capture-commission-report-part-5-vol1.pdf">power</a>. It was one of many institutions that were repurposed for improper personal or political gain during his tenure (May 2009 to February 2018): a process that has become known as <a href="http://www.saflii.org/images/state-capture-commission-report-part-5-vol1.pdf">state capture</a>. </p>
<p>His successor, President Cyril Ramaphosa, <a href="https://ewn.co.za/2022/10/24/ramaphosa-vows-to-overhaul-ssa-as-per-zondo-commission-recommendations">promised</a> in 2022 to reform the agency so it would serve its original mission. He committed to returning it to the pre-2009 era of having separate domestic and foreign branches, each led by its own director-general. </p>
<p>This decision is a major positive development. The Zuma administration <a href="http://www.saflii.org/images/state-capture-commission-report-part-5-vol1.pdf">merged the two branches</a> and abused the centralised model to protect the president from criticism. </p>
<p>Dismantling this architecture of abuse is happening too slowly, however, with no transitional plan having been announced publicly. Such a plan should include appointing interim heads for the domestic and foreign branches, rather than relying on people in acting positions. The government’s underestimation of the time needed to restructure the intelligence agency could have potentially serious, even dangerous, consequences. </p>
<h2>What went wrong</h2>
<p>The government under Zuma established the State Security Agency in 2009 as an <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/merger-of-spy-agencies-led-to-cabinet-ministers-giving-ssa-operatives-illegal-instructions-20210915">amalgamation</a> of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Intelligence_Agency_(South_Africa)">National Intelligence Agency</a>, the domestic intelligence service, and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Secret_Service">South African Secret Service</a>, the foreign service.</p>
<p>At that stage, the directors general and other intelligence entities <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LCm2Ds5V0I">reported directly</a> to the Minister of Intelligence. A coordinating mechanism ensured overall coherence. But in 2021 Ramaphosa <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/ramaphosa-does-away-with-intelligence-ministry-ssa-to-report-directly-to-him-20210805">dissolved</a> the ministry. The agency now reports to the Minister in the Presidency.</p>
<p>The intelligence agency during the Zuma era concentrated too much power in one entity, specifically a super director-general. Hence, it took very little to capture the entire entity for abusive purposes. Officials loyal to the former president used this merged structure to turn the agency into a <a href="https://www.gov.za/documents/high-level-review-panel-state-security-agency-9-mar-2019-0000">protective service</a> for him and those close to him politically.</p>
<p>Testimony before the state capture commission showed how the agency’s resources were <a href="http://www.saflii.org/images/state-capture-commission-report-part-5-vol1.pdf">used</a> to improve the fortunes of the governing African National Congress under Zuma’s leadership, by providing his supporters with resources to campaign on his behalf. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/zumas-abuse-of-south-africas-spy-agency-underscores-need-for-strong-civilian-oversight-154439">Zuma's abuse of South Africa's spy agency underscores need for strong civilian oversight</a>
</strong>
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<hr>
<p>Despite his administration’s stated objective of integrating the two services, they continued to operate on separate tracks. In fact, the merger <a href="https://www.gov.za/documents/high-level-review-panel-state-security-agency-9-mar-2019-0000">eroded</a> the very essence of the intelligence mandate – of forewarning the state of national security threats. The failure of intelligence ahead of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-deadly-july-2021-riots-may-recur-if-theres-no-change-186397">July 2021 riots</a> is a glaring example.</p>
<p>During the Zuma years, the focus on protecting the president led to the intelligence agency <a href="https://www.gov.za/documents/high-level-review-panel-state-security-agency-9-mar-2019-0000">prioritising</a> domestic intelligence by spying on citizens at the expense of foreign intelligence. Officials with ill intent also undermined the agency’s intelligence gathering <a href="https://www.gov.za/documents/high-level-review-panel-state-security-agency-9-mar-2019-0000">capacity</a>.</p>
<h2>The plan to fix it</h2>
<p>Following Ramaphosa’s promises, then Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele had <a href="https://www.gov.za/speeches/minister-mondli-gungubele-state-nation-address-debate-14-feb-2023-0000">committed the presidency</a> to ongoing reforms.</p>
<p>He highlighted the unbundling into foreign and domestic branches. This was one of the key recommendations of the 2018 High-Level Review Panel on the State Security Agency’s <a href="https://www.gov.za/documents/high-level-review-panel-state-security-agency-9-mar-2019-0000">report</a>. </p>
<p>This would be done through an intelligence laws amendment bill that the intelligence agency intends to introduce to parliament by the end of the current financial year.</p>
<p>This was not the first time Gungubele had made this promise. He did so in May 2022, <a href="https://www.thepresidency.gov.za/speeches/address-minister-presidency-responsible-state-security%2C-mondli-gungubele%2C-occasion-2022-23-budget-vote-debate%2C-parliament%2C-cape-town">saying</a> that the bill had been finalised and would be submitted to parliament in September of that year. So it should surprise no one if the new timeline isn’t followed once again.</p>
<p>A new bill should ensure that the new heads of domestic and foreign intelligence have more discretionary power, reducing the power of the director-general. Doing so should make it more likely that this person will confine themselves to an oversight role rather than becoming involved in operational matters.</p>
<h2>The problem with the plan</h2>
<p>The fact that the State Security Agency has been absorbed into the presidency – which is also <a href="https://salaamedia.com/2023/02/19/analysis-ramaphosa-is-building-a-super-presidency-while-ministers-sit-at-home/">accumulating</a> other government entities and functions – could be a gift to any president intent on repeating the abuses of the Zuma administration.</p>
<p>One of the biggest dangers is a delay in appointing leaders of the domestic and foreign intelligence branches. They need direction. The head of the foreign branch was <a href="https://www.defenceweb.co.za/security/national-security/mcbride-suspended-as-ssa-foreign-branch-head/">suspended</a> in July 2021 and the head of the domestic branch <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/ssa-without-a-head-of-domestic-intelligence-after-mahlodi-sam-muofhe-leaves-20210804">left</a> after his contract expired at the end of the same month.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-provides-fertile-ground-for-funders-of-terrorism-heres-why-194282">South Africa provides fertile ground for funders of terrorism. Here's why</a>
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<p>The agency told me that they cannot appoint permanent heads until the bill to restructure the agency becomes a law, and its disestablishment is complete.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201409/b25a-2011-130416a.pdf">2011 bill</a> that established the amalgamated agency took <a href="https://pmg.org.za/bill/184/">20 months</a> to be signed into law. It would make sense to have a transitional plan, appointing individuals on two-year contracts.</p>
<p>The Zuma administration was characterised by many <a href="https://www.ru.ac.za/perspective/2013archive/zumathekingofacting.html">acting appointments</a> in key positions across government, including the State Security Agency and the <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/zuma-to-appoint-npa-head-by-end-of-august-20150429">National Prosecuting Authority</a>. Relying so heavily on acting appointments weakened the government structures, to enable state capture.</p>
<p>People in acting positions are unable to take strong positions as they lack the security of tenure to do so. But the domestic and foreign branches need strong positions to safeguard South Africa’s security and stability.</p>
<h2>Why this matters</h2>
<p>The result of an intelligence service that is not fit for purpose is that the country is vulnerable to security threats from within and without. South Africans are living with the disastrous consequences – such as <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-09-21-south-africas-organised-crime-climbs-to-italys-levels-racing-past-mexico-somalia-and-libya/">rising organised crime</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sandton-terror-alert-time-for-south-africa-to-improve-its-intelligence-sharing-channels-with-the-us-194542">Sandton terror alert: time for South Africa to improve its intelligence sharing channels with the US</a>
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<p>Going back to separate foreign and domestic services is the last chance civilian intelligence has to re-establish its credibility. </p>
<p>The current round of restructuring the State Security Agency cannot fail. If it does it will have to be shut down and restarted from scratch. </p>
<p>The South American country Colombia did just that. In 2011, the government there <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/americas/colombias-troubled-intelligence-agency-shuttered/2011/11/28/gIQA7mnzTO_story.html">shut down</a> the Administrative Department of Security (DAS), after it went rogue and engaged in criminal activities under the guise of fighting the war on drugs. </p>
<p>Unless the Ramaphosa administration expedites the State Security Agency’s restructuring, then the Colombian option will be the only one that makes sense for the agency. </p>
<p>*This story has been updated to reflect that Mondli Gungubele has since been appointed as Communications Minister in the SA cabinet.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200386/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span><a href="mailto:jane.duncan@glasgow.ac.uk">jane.duncan@glasgow.ac.uk</a> receives funding from the British Academy and Luminate.</span></em></p>Having an intelligence service that is not fit for purpose means the country is vulnerable to security threats from within and outside the country.Jane Duncan, Professor of Digital Society, University of GlasgowLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2004902023-02-23T12:35:41Z2023-02-23T12:35:41ZSouth Africa’s bailout of Eskom won’t end power cuts: splitting up the utility can, as other countries have shown<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511919/original/file-20230223-2271-xuao0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The announcement by the South African finance minister, Enoch Godongwana, of <a href="https://www.treasury.gov.za/documents/National%20Budget/2023/review/Annexure%20W3.pdf">debt relief</a> for the country’s troubled power utility, <a href="https://www.eskom.co.za/">Eskom</a>, is a step forward. It will fix one problem: Eskom has too much debt. But the plan won’t end power cuts which <a href="https://www.treasury.gov.za/documents/national%20budget/2023/speech/speech.pdf#page=9">have worsened in recent years</a>. </p>
<p>The international experience is that one way to end electricity shortages is to allow competitively-priced privately-funded generation at scale. This requires a reorganisation of South Africa’s electricity market <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201910/roadmap-eskom.pdf">along the lines announced</a> by the Department of Public Enterprises nearly four years ago. The crux of the plan was to split Eskom into three separate units – generation, transmission and distribution, with transmission remaining state-owned.</p>
<p>With the <a href="https://www.treasury.gov.za/documents/national%20budget/2023/speech/speech.pdf#page=10">announced conditions</a>, which include the requirement that Eskom prioritise capital expenditure in transmission and distribution during the debt-relief period, the finance minister has missed an opportunity to finally achieve this.</p>
<h2>What we can learn from other countries</h2>
<p>Other countries that have had power cuts offer South Africa lessons. China, for example, faced <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/dec/05/china.jonathanwatts">rolling blackouts</a> between 2003 and 2006 because of <a href="https://journals.openedition.org/chinaperspectives/2783">an unexpected growth spurt</a>. In 2015, <a href="https://greekreporter.com/2015/04/28/nationwide-blackout-in-greek-tv-this-morning/">Greece</a> was in the middle of a financial crisis and its people could not afford the electricity supply, some of which came through a complex deal with Russia. And in <a href="https://apnews.com/article/911b4884559dc01ae604ce187c39c9ba">Colombia</a>, a drought in 1992 caused the main source of electricity supply – which came from a hydroelectric plant – to literally dry up.</p>
<p>All these countries experienced power cuts. But South Africa is the only country to have had <a href="https://theconversation.com/power-cuts-in-south-africa-are-playing-havoc-with-the-countrys-water-system-197952">power shortages for 15 years</a>. This is because the others moved quickly to rejig their electricity supply systems. </p>
<p>All three countries followed a similar route, as have many others. They untangled their single electricity companies, focusing on keeping parts of it under state control and opening up the rest to a mix of state and private companies.</p>
<h2>Complex to manage</h2>
<p>The electricity supply system has three parts. First is generation – generating electricity at a power plant. Second is transmission – moving it from the power plant to the municipality, usually on a high voltage line. Finally, distribution is about getting it the last few metres to a house or factory.</p>
<p>High-voltage transmission is what economists call a “natural monopoly”. It is more efficient if there is a single electricity grid for an area, rather than multiple grids. This part is best managed by a central body – in many countries a state-owned company. Because the transmission business can recover costs, it can use that income to increase transmission capacity, <a href="https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/only-six-solar-projects-advance-to-preferred-bidder-status-following-latest-renewables-round-2022-12-08/rep_id:4136">something that is urgently needed</a>. </p>
<p>But China, Colombia and Greece all recognised that generation no longer needs to be a monopoly. Actually a monopoly in generation is bad for all the same reasons that all monopolies are bad. They typically charge more and produce less. You need a complicated regulatory system to get their prices right. Smaller generation companies are easier to manage.</p>
<p>Distribution is best left to a company as close to the end user as possible – in almost all countries, that is the municipality. In South Africa, it is a mix. For example, <a href="https://www.citypower.co.za/Pages/default.aspx">City Power</a> distributes electricity to customers in older parts of Johannesburg. But Eskom distributes electricity direct in outlying parts of the metros. </p>
<p>This means that Eskom has to do everything: generate electricity, transmit it on large power lines to the cities and then distribute it to individual customers. It is a “vertical monopoly”. This makes it a fiendishly complex company to manage. Very few countries have such an arrangement – most prefer to allow specialist businesses in each part of the system.</p>
<h2>Lessons for South Africa</h2>
<p>Here’s what happened when generation was untangled from the rest of the state-owned monopoly in China. Between 2003 and 2006, <a href="https://www.powermag.com/china-wrestles-with-power-shortages/">new generation companies</a> added over 237,500 MW to the Chinese grid. That’s the equivalent of delivering nearly 10 Eskoms in three years.</p>
<p>In 2019, the Department of Public Enterprises <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201910/roadmap-eskom.pdf">published a detailed and clear roadmap</a> to follow this route, separating Eskom into generation, transmission and distribution. Internally, <a href="https://www.eskom.co.za/eskom-divisions/">Eskom is already structured that way</a>. On 17 December 2021, the legally binding merger agreement was executed to transfer transmission to the <a href="https://www.eskom.co.za/medium-term-budget-policy-statement-unbundling-of-transmission-division/">National Transmission Company South Africa SOC Limited</a>.</p>
<p>But the very last step has not been taken, despite being <a href="https://www.energy.gov.za/files/policies/whitepaper_energypolicy_1998.pdf">government policy since 1998</a>. Every time the proposed separation comes closer to happening, there has been fierce resistance <a href="https://www.gtac.gov.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Why-Lights-Went-Out-Politics-Institutions-and-Electricity-Reform.pdf">from both unions and Eskom management</a>. In 2018, it was because of loadshedding. During the years when there was no loadshedding and plants were being run too hard, it was because it was not urgent. And since the current electricity crisis, it is because there is loadshedding and Eskom <a href="https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/south-africa-transmission-firm-seen-hobbled-by-eskom-millstone-2022-06-21">is not financially viable</a>. But it is precisely because Eskom is in financial distress that the separation needs to be accelerated.</p>
<p>In 2023, two things make it possible to do the separation very quickly.</p>
<p>The first is <a href="https://www.eskom.co.za/resignation-of-eskom-group-chief-executive/">a new CEO</a>. If the government is serious about the separation, as it has regularly said it is, it doesn’t make sense to appoint a single new CEO. Separate CEOs should be appointed for the National Transmission Company and for the other businesses. An independent board of directors for the transmission company should also be appointed.</p>
<p>The second is a technical issue related to Eskom’s debt. At the moment, Eskom as a whole is liable for the Eskom debt. The debt holders need to consent to any change in the legal structure.</p>
<p>The national treasury has announced that approximately <a href="https://www.treasury.gov.za/legislation/bills/2023/%5BB5-2023%5D%20(Eskom%20Debt%20Relief).pdf">R254 billion (about US$14 billion) of Eskom debt</a> will be transferred to the national balance sheet in tranches over the next three years. Debt holders can be asked to approve the transfer of debt and the final piece of the restructuring at the same time. The legal and technical work has all been done – the National Transmission Company exists, and it just needs life and capital. It would have been far better to use the R254 billion (about US$14 billion) to help capitalise this critical new company.</p>
<p>Most debt holders will jump at the chance – certainty on the long promised new structure as it will go a long way to fix energy problems in the country. Also, it will improve the chances that debt holders will get their interest payments on the debt that isn’t transferred.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, <a href="https://www.treasury.gov.za/documents/National%20Budget/2023/review/Annexure%20W3.pdf#page=4">the conditions</a> that the national treasury has announced do not include the final unbundling. There is still an opportunity – the government’s conditions still have to be finalised. Eskom’s unbundling is one of the priorities of <a href="https://www.stateofthenation.gov.za/operation-vulindlela/electricity-sector">Operation Vulindlela</a>, a joint initiative of the presidency and national treasury aimed at accelerating structural reforms and measures that can support economic recovery.</p>
<p>Hopefully the government will learn from the international experience and use the R254 billion (about US$14 billion) to fundamentally fix the problem of a vertically integrated, inefficient and ineffective monopoly. And with that, end power cuts.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200490/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roy Havemann is at the Western Cape Treasury and was previously at National Treasury, He writes in his personal capacity. </span></em></p>South Africa’s minister of finance should have used the bailout of Eskom to fast-track its split and introduce the private sector into the electricity sector.Roy Havemann, Research Associate, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1952602022-12-02T13:40:55Z2022-12-02T13:40:55ZGenocides persist, nearly 70 years after the Holocaust – but there are recognized ways to help prevent them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498294/original/file-20221130-14-3djrpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An Orthodox Jewish man looks at photographs of Jews murdered during the Holocaust at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Israel.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/52756974/photo/israel-marks-annual-holocaust-remembrance-day.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=799KXl5lt_xItHaZzs3EURBgdH6qYoyRYPDesNF3A_c=">David Silverman/Getty Images </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The newly formed United Nations passed its <a href="https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/genocide-convention.shtml">first international treaty</a> on Dec. 9, 1948, just three years after the Holocaust ended. The <a href="https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocity-crimes/Doc.1_Convention%20on%20the%20Prevention%20and%20Punishment%20of%20the%20Crime%20of%20Genocide.pdf">Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide</a> was designed to prevent genocide from ever happening again. </p>
<p>But governments worldwide currently remain far from the goal of preventing genocide – despite 152 of them eventually signing on to the Genocide Convention. </p>
<p>Genocide, meaning actions taken with the intent to destroy a group of people because of their identity, happened again in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14672715.1990.10413120">Cambodia</a> in the 1970s. The communist Khmer Rouge regime tried to kill all ethnic Vietnamese and Cham people in the country, resulting in the deaths of 1.5 million to 3 million people. And it happened in 1994 in Rwanda, when the Hutu ethnic group murdered <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801474927/the-order-of-genocide/#bookTabs=1">hundreds of thousands of Tutsis.</a> </p>
<p>Today, governments <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/08/un-expert-calls-action-against-myanmar-military-anniversary-atrocities">are also carrying</a> out genocide against ethnic minorities in <a href="https://www.state.gov/burma-genocide/">Myanmar</a>, where the military is killing the Muslim Rohingya people. Many experts and some governments, including the United States, also <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/19/us/politics/trump-china-xinjiang.html">say genocide is</a> happening in <a href="https://newlinesinstitute.org/uyghurs/the-uyghur-genocide-an-examination-of-chinas-breaches-of-the-1948-genocide-convention/">China</a>, where the national government is arbitrarily detaining Uyghur people. </p>
<p>Some human rights experts also say that there <a href="https://www.usip.org/publications/2022/09/russia-committing-genocide-ukraine">is growing evidence</a> Russia is committing genocide against the Ukrainian people. </p>
<p>Genocide has not been prevented, almost 75 years after the Genocide Convention was passed, in part because of a misunderstanding about how genocide happens and what prevention looks like.</p>
<p>As co-director of Binghamton University’s <a href="https://www.binghamton.edu/i-gmap/index.html">Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention</a> and a program director at the <a href="https://www.auschwitzinstitute.org/">Auschwitz Institute for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities</a>, I focus on helping students and government officials understand five important things that scholars and practitioners have learned about preventing genocide. Here are those five key points.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498303/original/file-20221130-16-dc0e6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A person, whose body is out of the shot, places a hand on the photo of a young person on a table. There are many other headshots of people on the table." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498303/original/file-20221130-16-dc0e6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498303/original/file-20221130-16-dc0e6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498303/original/file-20221130-16-dc0e6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498303/original/file-20221130-16-dc0e6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498303/original/file-20221130-16-dc0e6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498303/original/file-20221130-16-dc0e6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498303/original/file-20221130-16-dc0e6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Muslim Uyghur people show photos of their relatives who are detained in China in May 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1240578147/photo/turkey-un-china-uyghur-justice-rights.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=zISi57__PQF4SmfcyP-uUSOB3FcjfytnqzGd12v4OhQ=">Ozan Kose/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Genocide is a process, not an event</h2>
<p><a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/coining-a-word-and-championing-a-cause-the-story-of-raphael-lemkin">Polish Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin</a> first coined the term genocide in 1944. Specifically, the Genocide Convention protects racial, ethnic, religious and national identities. </p>
<p>Although this destruction often happens through mass murder, it can take other forms. It can mean <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/11/ukraine-russias-unlawful-transfer-of-civilians-a-war-crime-and-likely-a-crime-against-humanity-new-report/">taking children of one group away from their parents and transferring them to another group</a>, for example. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/gsp.7.1.16">Genocides are not events that happen overnight</a>. They are <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/genocide-as-social-practice/9780813563183">long-term social and political processes</a> that begin long before mass killing. </p>
<p>For instance, the Nazis did not build death camps immediately when Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany in 1933. <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/7858">The Holocaust began with smaller steps</a>, like preventing Jewish people from holding certain jobs, then preventing Jews and non-Jews from marrying each other. </p>
<p>It was not until the late-1930s that the Nazis transitioned to their <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/final-solution-overview">Final Solution,</a> which called for the destruction of all Jewish people. And the Nazis did not construct the first death camps until 1941. But all these steps over the years constituted what we now call the Holocaust.</p>
<h2>Prevention is also a process</h2>
<p>When people understand genocide as a process and learn to recognize the <a href="http://www.genocidewatch.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/The-Ten-Stages-of-Genocide-handout.pdf">early stages that can lead to genocide</a>, there is more opportunity to intervene before people are killed. </p>
<p>Prevention scholars and activists stress a <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/confronting-evil-9780199300709?cc=us&lang=en&">long-term view of prevention that entails three stages</a>.</p>
<p>First, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13296">there are actions</a> people can take before genocide occurs to make sure it never happens. This involves identifying which groups of people are at risk of violence, then passing laws, for example, to protect those groups. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ushmm.org/genocide-prevention/simon-skjodt-center/work/lessons-learned">A second stage of prevention</a> involves responses to a genocide once it breaks out. This can include using military troops to quash violence. But it could also extend to things like <a href="https://dppa.un.org/en/united-nations-conflict-prevention-and-preventive-diplomacy-action">diplomacy</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-icc-is-investigating-war-crimes-in-ukraine-could-putin-be-indicted-178005">threats of prosecution</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0731121421990071">economic sanctions</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ictj.org/publication/transitional-justice-and-prevention-summary-findings-five-country-case-studies">Finally, a third stage of prevention</a> only occurs when a genocide has already happened. This stage aims to prevent its recurrence. This can include things like <a href="https://www.auschwitzinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/AIPG-TruthCommissionsReport-rev.pdf">truth commissions</a>, which aim to expose and document mass violence or other periods of turmoil, <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/">trials against the perpetrators</a> or <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-reparations-are-always-about-more-than-money-162807">reparations to victims</a>.</p>
<p>Obviously, stopping a genocide before it actually happens is the <a href="https://doi.org/10.5038/1911-9933.13.3.1675">most effective and least costly</a> form of prevention.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498300/original/file-20221130-6108-mdxsed.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A crowd of people carrying bags walk closely, crossing a bridge, with a river and green hills behind them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498300/original/file-20221130-6108-mdxsed.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498300/original/file-20221130-6108-mdxsed.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498300/original/file-20221130-6108-mdxsed.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498300/original/file-20221130-6108-mdxsed.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498300/original/file-20221130-6108-mdxsed.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498300/original/file-20221130-6108-mdxsed.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498300/original/file-20221130-6108-mdxsed.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The sudden influx of Venezuelan migrants into Colombia prompted the Colombian government to put in place a plan in 2021 to lower the risk of genocide.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/916656370/photo/topshot-venezuela-crisis-colombia-border.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=UZFTJC0xt87zzUtReeN-pLqkRGaYvGJiYAIw03EDi5w=">George Castellanos/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Prevention starts with reducing risk</h2>
<p>Scholars <a href="https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/publications-and-resources/Genocide_Framework%20of%20Analysis-English.pdf">have identified</a> certain <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14623528.2017.1379631">risk factors</a> that make a society <a href="https://earlywarningproject.ushmm.org/">more likely</a> to experience genocide. Countries with poor human rights records, for example, are typically at higher risk of genocide.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199378296.001.0001">Poor economic conditions</a> and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3118221">a country’s history of conflict</a> are also factors that could contribute to large-scale violence against a group of people.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0141987022000000231">Migrants and refugees</a> are people who are especially at risk of experiencing identity-based violence. </p>
<p>When more than 1 million <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oep/gpz072">Venezuelan refugees entered Colombia</a> starting in 2015, for example, <a href="https://earlywarningproject.ushmm.org/countries/colombia">many risk factors were present</a>. One risk factor is when a group has <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2020/11/global-action-against-mass-atrocity-crimes-platform-preventionhigh-level">unequal access to basic resources and services</a>. </p>
<p>The Colombian government saw this as a risk factor and responded. It introduced a new policy in February 2021 that gave <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/02/09/965853031/colombia-offers-temporary-legal-status-to-nearly-1-million-venezuelan-migrants">temporary legal status to all refugees</a>. This gave them access to public services, education and health care, immediately lowering the risk for large-scale violence in Colombia. </p>
<h2>True prevention starts at home</h2>
<p>Every country in the world features some risk factors associated with genocide, <a href="http://worldwithoutgenocide.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Waller-Assessing-the-Risk-of-Genocide.pdf">including the United States</a>. </p>
<p>But not every country in the world has the same level of risk. </p>
<p>In recent years, many countries have recognized the need to assess their own genocide risk factors. Some have fashioned <a href="http://doi.org/10.5038/1911-9933.11.3.1502">specific government initiatives focused on genocide prevention</a>. This work spans government departments and ministries to make sure governments keep genocide prevention in focus. Argentina, Mexico, Tanzania and Uganda are among the countries to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1542316619851440">undertake this kind of work.</a></p>
<p>The United States <a href="https://www.state.gov/2022-united-states-strategy-to-anticipate-prevent-and-respond-to-atrocities/">also has a national strategy focused on genocide prevention</a>, though it does not look inward at this point – it is only concerned with atrocity prevention in other countries. </p>
<p>There are also <a href="https://www.auschwitzinstitute.org/">several</a> <a href="https://www.globalr2p.org/">nongovernmental</a> organizations that <a href="https://protectionapproaches.org/">assist governments</a> in prevention work, including the institute where I work.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498296/original/file-20221130-20-57y9a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white photo shows rows of stacked human skulls and bones." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498296/original/file-20221130-20-57y9a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498296/original/file-20221130-20-57y9a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498296/original/file-20221130-20-57y9a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498296/original/file-20221130-20-57y9a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498296/original/file-20221130-20-57y9a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498296/original/file-20221130-20-57y9a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498296/original/file-20221130-20-57y9a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A row of human skulls and remains cover the interior of a church in Kigali following the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/3126839/photo/ntarama-memorial-in-rwanda.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=8aciSOtyfY3kmC5B1lO4lijVZNkSEEKYLIjKNQXTZT8=">Lane Montgomery/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Prevention isn’t over when the genocide stops</h2>
<p>There could be temptation to think that when mass killing stops, the work of prevention is finished. But <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3118221">one of the biggest genocide risk factors</a> is if a society has already been involved with one. For example, the Holocaust happened only a couple decades after Germany perpetrated the <a href="https://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/HausslerHerero">genocide of Herero and Nama</a> people in present-day Namibia.</p>
<p>For this reason, the work of prevention continues, <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/resonant-violence/9781978825550/">even after a genocide is over.</a></p>
<p>This requires societies to deal with the risk factors that allowed genocide to take place, even as they rebuild. </p>
<p>For instance, after the 2007 elections in Kenya, massive <a href="https://www.csis.org/blogs/smart-global-health/background-post-election-crisis-kenya">inter-ethnic electoral violence broke out,</a> killing <a href="https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/tjrc-core/7">over 1,000 people and displacing at least 350,000</a>. The United Nations and the Kenyan government collaborated with nonprofits and local leaders to <a href="https://www.auschwitzinstitute.org/profiles-in-prevention/alice-nderitu/">develop an early-warning network</a> called the <a href="https://www.nscpeace.go.ke/108/about.php#:%7E:text=Uwiano%20Platform%20for%20Peace%20is%20a%20public%20platform%20to%20engage,conflict%20prevention%20efforts%20in%20Kenya.">Uwiano Platform for Peace</a>. This provides a hotline system where ordinary citizens can call or text if they hear hate speech or see violent acts. The information is then verified and, if it is credible, the central platform contacts local authorities to respond. </p>
<p>Following the implementation of Uwiano, no large-scale violence was reported after the 2010 and 2013 elections. Of course, Uwiano was not the only reason that Kenya avoided this violence. It took <a href="https://www.globalr2p.org/publications/r2p-in-practice-ethnic-violence-elections-and-atrocity-prevention-in-kenya/">many international, national and local experts and others working together</a>.</p>
<p>There is no single way to prevent genocide. What is clear, however, is that there are many different measures available that, together, can reduce the risk of genocide.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195260/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kerry Whigham is affiliated with the Auschwitz Insitute for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities, an international non-governmental organization. </span></em></p>There isn’t one, clear-cut way to prevent genocide. But there are effective methods of prevention that governments can take.Kerry Whigham, Assistant Professor of Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention, Binghamton University, State University of New YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1884762022-10-03T17:25:15Z2022-10-03T17:25:15ZIn a Colombian national park, pictographs and pristine nature point the way toward a more hopeful future<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487321/original/file-20220929-24-db7fwn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C211%2C4031%2C2655&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Chiribiquete National Natural Park and the _Serranía de la Lindosa_ buffer zone feature many flat-topped mountains known as _Tepuyes_.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unesco</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Colombia’s Chiribiquete National Natural Park is a natural, historical and cultural wonder. Located in the northwestern part of the Colombian Amazon, it covers 43,000 square kilometres and contains what are probably some of the most ancient traces of human occupation in the Americas, with tens of thousands of pictographs in more than 50 rock shelters. The park also contributes significantly to climate regulation in the region, and so forms an important part of the Amazon ecological system. In addition, there are clues of the presence of isolated indigenous groups, whose protection is a national and international obligation.</p>
<p>In recognition of Chiribiquete’s inestimable environmental and cultural value, in 2018 the park was inscribed in the <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1174/">Unesco World Heritage List</a>. To protect the site and the peoples who live there, it has been closed to visitors since 1989. The Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia (PNNC), manager of the site along with <a href="https://www.icanh.gov.co/">Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History</a> (ICANH), has urged that the Chiribiquete be kept <a href="https://www.parquesnacionales.gov.co/portal/es/todos-podemos-ser-guardianesdechiribiquete/">closed to tourism</a>.</p>
<p>While tourists are not allowed to visit Chiribiquete itself, communicating the site’s importance is essential. Since the park’s closure, those wishing to visit have been reoriented to the buffer zone known as <em>Serranía de la Lindosa</em>, located on its northern side. It contains many of the park’s recognizable natural and cultural features, such as flat-topped mountains known as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tepui"><em>Tepuyes</em></a>, and many large and well-preserved rock art panels that may date back to more than 12,000 years ago. </p>
<p>To develop responsible tourism while protecting the site’s archaeological heritage, the <a href="https://www.icanh.gov.co/">Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History</a> (ICANH) has been working closely with the local communities of the <em>Serranía de la Lindosa</em> for the last six years. The goal is to
develop and maintain an efficient management strategy for the park.</p>
<h2>From conflict to cooperation</h2>
<p>Until the 1970s, Colombia’s government considered the area to be “uncivilized”, and so promoted the settlement by people from other regions. Those who came raised families and live by farming and ranching, known to be a cause of <a href="https://press.un.org/en/2005/envdev861.doc.htm">environmental degradation</a>. In the 1990s, illegal armed groups became active in the region and established drug-trafficking networks, creating uncertainty and turmoil. The <a href="https://www.peaceagreements.org/wview/1845/">2016 peace agreement</a> between Colombia’s national government and the FARC guerrilla organisation was a significant step forward, and enabled local communities to turn toward a more hopeful future.</p>
<p>While local communities had long been aware of Chiribiquete’s archaeological treasures, the peace agreement highlighted the importance of protecting them. It also opened up economic opportunities related to the protection of natural and cultural heritage rather than the old extractive models based on deforestation and livestock. Even before the agreement’s signature, area residents began to offer services in the <em>Serranía de la Lindosa</em>, including tourist guidance, transportation, and catering services. While still an “off the beaten path” destination, the area has a <a href="https://www.tripadvisor.es/Attraction_Review-g3493972-d17396750-Reviews-Serrania_la_Lindosa-San_Jose_del_Guaviare_Guaviare_Department.html">growing presence</a> on the international tourist circuit.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Pictographs on a stone wall in the Serranía de la Lindosa." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485922/original/file-20220921-8445-m88a16.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C20%2C6780%2C3785&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485922/original/file-20220921-8445-m88a16.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485922/original/file-20220921-8445-m88a16.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485922/original/file-20220921-8445-m88a16.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485922/original/file-20220921-8445-m88a16.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485922/original/file-20220921-8445-m88a16.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485922/original/file-20220921-8445-m88a16.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The <em>Serranía de la Lindosa</em> buffer zone contain sites that feature well-preserved ancient pictographs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unesco</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The park’s 2018 inscription as a World Heritage Site not only brought international recognition of park’s importance, it also supported efforts by local communities to preserve and promote the site. Institutions such as the ICANH are also pitching in and work has included an analysis of the carrying capacity of the archaeological sites, the installation of the controlled pathways through sensitive areas, and the formulation of the tourist regulation plan. Projects to conserve the rock-art panels are also in progress, including museum exhibitions, books and other publications. International cooperation agencies such as the US <a href="https://eca.state.gov/cultural-heritage-center/ambassadors-fund-cultural-preservation">Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation</a> have also become involved. </p>
<p>Today, the <em>Serranía de la Lindosa</em> is a national example of resilience, and of how local communities decided to change their way of life for the better. New generations of young people are working to transition to a more sustainable way of life consistent with the protection of the cultural and natural heritage. Together, it’s a remarkable example of how cultural World Heritage can benefit local communities, improve people’s welfare, and encourage the protection of humankind and its collective heritage.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance of the Instituto Colombiano de Antropología e Historia, the Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia, and the local communities of Serranía de la Lindosa who inspired this article and make possible the protection of the World Heritage Site.</em></p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485372/original/file-20220919-20-pguqfq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485372/original/file-20220919-20-pguqfq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485372/original/file-20220919-20-pguqfq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485372/original/file-20220919-20-pguqfq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485372/original/file-20220919-20-pguqfq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485372/original/file-20220919-20-pguqfq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485372/original/file-20220919-20-pguqfq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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<p><em><a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/next50/">50th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention</a> (16 November 2022): World Heritage as a source of resilience, humanity and innovation.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188476/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Paloma Leguizamón travaille pour Instituto Colombiano de Antropología e Historia - ICANH</span></em></p>Local communities and national authorities are working to develop sustainable tourism in Colombia’s Chiribiquete National Natural Park, a Unesco World Heritage Site since 2018.Laura Paloma Leguizamón, Archaeologist and Heritage Manager (Unesco), Instituto Colombiano de Antropología e Historia (ICANH)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1895752022-09-06T17:48:58Z2022-09-06T17:48:58ZColombia’s new left-wing government: three opportunities to build stronger ties with Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482953/original/file-20220906-20-9rrrcy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Inauguration ceremony of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, left, and vice president Francia Marquez in Bogota, on 7 August.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EFE-EPA/Mauricio Duenas Castaneda</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The recent <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/in-historic-shift-gustavo-petro-sworn-in-as-colombias-first-leftist-president">election</a> of Colombia’s first left-wing president, Gustavo Petro, and first black vice-president, Francia Márquez, creates a new opening to revitalise ties with Africa.</p>
<p>Colombia is often overlooked as a nation of interest because of its <a href="https://cntraveler.com/story/how-colombia-once-consumed-by-violence-became-your-next-destination">reputation for violence</a>. Its negative standing results mainly from the decades-long armed conflict between previous governments and the Marxist-Leninist group FARC. The conflict has been linked to the production and export of <a href="https://www.peaceinsight.org/en/articles/drug-trafficking-colombian-conflict/?location=colombia&theme=">illicit drugs</a>. It ended with the signing of a <a href="https://www.peaceagreements.org/wview/1845/Final%20Agreement%20to%20End%20the%20Armed%20Conflict%20and%20Build%20a%20Stable%20and%20Lasting%20Peace">peace agreement</a> in 2016. </p>
<p>Despite such a reputation, the country is an important regional economic hub. In 2021, its <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?locations=CO">GDP</a> was US$315 billion, the third largest in South America, after Brazil and Argentina. The International Monetary Fund <a href="https://blogs.imf.org/2022/04/26/latin-america-faces-unusually-high-risks/">predicts</a> that the country’s economy will grow at 5.8% in 2022.</p>
<p>The election of Petro and Márquez provides three opportunities for stronger Africa-Colombia relations that can yield mutual benefits. These are Colombia’s cultural and historical ties with Africa, strong trade potential and south-south cooperation.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/colombia-gustavo-petro-and-francia-marquez-have-achieved-a-historic-victory-for-the-left-so-who-are-they-186221">Colombia: Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez have achieved a historic victory for the left – so who are they?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Three opportunities</h2>
<p><strong>Colombia’s strong African roots</strong></p>
<p>Márquez is Colombia’s first black woman vice-president. Her election could enhance Afro-Colombians’ <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/06/world/americas/francia-marquez-colombia-vp-style.html">consciousness</a> of their African ancestry. It’s also an opportunity to diversify Colombia’s foreign policy, by strengthening cultural connections
with African nations.</p>
<p>The Afro-Colombian community includes <a href="https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1277501/download">4.7 million</a> people, around 10% of Colombia’s population of <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=CO">51 million</a>. They are the descendants of Africans who came to Colombia during the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/transatlantic-slave-trade">transatlantic slave trade</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/book-review-how-africa-was-central-to-the-making-of-the-modern-world-175656">Book review: how Africa was central to the making of the modern world</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Unlocking the trade potential</strong></p>
<p>Colombia lags considerably behind countries like Brazil in trade and political ties with Africa. Colombia and African nations can better explore and exploit their comparative advantages in goods and services. </p>
<p>Their trade volumes are still <a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/colombia/">low</a>, showing a significant opportunity for new commercial relations. In 2021, Colombia imported around $150 million in goods and services from Africa, only 0.25% of its total imports. Its exports to Africa were around $400 million, only 0.98% of its exports. No African country features among Colombia’s top 30 trading partners. </p>
<p>In his inaugural speech, Petro said Colombia would seek to build stronger economic alliances with <a href="https://www.elcolombiano.com/colombia/asi-fue-el-discurso-de-posesion-de-gustavo-petro-KJ18337973">African</a> countries. Colombia’s focus on energy, mining and agrifood means that African countries have much to gain from partnerships with it. </p>
<p>Visa systems on both sides need to be relaxed. South Africa, for example, does not have an embassy in Bogotá. Its diplomatic relations with Colombia are led by its embassy in Caracas, Venezuela. The countries have had a healthy relationship since 1994, but it has often faced difficulties in getting visas. </p>
<p>Another challenge is related to connectivity between South America and Africa. In the past, most flights between Africa and South America went through São Paulo, Brazil. The COVID pandemic reduced the number of flights. By 2022, the only connections between South America and Africa were via Angola or Ethiopia. <a href="https://www.avianca.com/">Avianca</a>, Colombia’s national airline, could provide a new route to help improve connectivity. </p>
<p><strong>Promoting south-south cooperation</strong></p>
<p>During the election campaign and her activist history, Márquez often used the African idea of <a href="https://indepaz.org.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Francia-Marquez-III.pdf">ubuntu</a> (humanness) to promote interdependence within (and between) societies. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-archbishop-tutus-ubuntu-credo-teaches-the-world-about-justice-and-harmony-84730">What Archbishop Tutu's ubuntu credo teaches the world about justice and harmony</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Colombia could also look to Africa for lessons, share experiences and identify opportunities to deal with land use and distribution. Márquez has presented views that show the importance of dealing with land issues in a way that <a href="https://www.usip.org/publications/2022/05/vice-presidential-candidates-lay-out-visions-colombias-future">empowers poor people</a>.</p>
<p>Technical cooperation programmes can be essential in realising the potential benefits of interdependence. For instance, Colombia has a long experience in developing public <a href="https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10139712/">transport systems</a>. These have become essential for social integration and environmental sustainability. </p>
<p>Cities like Medellín have already become an example of how to provide efficient public transport for <a href="https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10139712/">poor urban neighbourhoods</a>.</p>
<p>Colombia’s Agency of International Cooperation has already signed a framework agreement with the <a href="https://www.nepad.org/">African Union Development Agency</a> to bolster technical assistance in Africa.</p>
<h2>Looking forward</h2>
<p>African countries should seek further interactions with the global south to increase their voice and agency in pursuit of a fairer international order. For instance, agriculture, food security and climate change are important areas where Colombia and the African continent could jointly influence global <a href="https://au.int/en/pressreleases/20220221/working-relations-key-continued-africa-latin-america-ties">discussions</a> that directly affect the developing world.</p>
<p>Colombia’s chargé d’affaires to South Africa, Jose Ignacio Julião Alí, told me the new moment</p>
<blockquote>
<p>marks an opportunity to close gaps between emerging countries with similar challenges, in terms of social cohesion and reconciliation, climate and environmental focus as part of megadiverse regions.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The world’s economic relationships are shifting and new powers such as China, Brazil and India are rising. Petro’s and Márquez’s election offers a chance to deepen Africa-Colombia relations and cooperation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189575/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gustavo de Carvalho is also affiliated with the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA). </span></em></p>Colombia is an important South American regional hub and potentially important trade partner for Africa.Gustavo de Carvalho, Research Fellow at Institute for Global African Affairs, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1892072022-08-31T12:28:20Z2022-08-31T12:28:20ZWhen Russia and Ukraine eventually restart peace talks, involving women – or not – could be a key factor in an agreement actually sticking<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481606/original/file-20220829-22-o8ocib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C180%2C4792%2C3456&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Ukrainian solider is seen in Donetsk, Ukraine, on Aug. 15, 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/ukrainian-women-soldier-28yearold-svetlana-who-served-as-a-captain-in-picture-id1242536497">Metin Aktas/Andalou Agency via Getty Images </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ukraine and Russia launched peace talks just days after Russia invaded in early February, 2022 – but since then, peace negotiations have <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-says-there-is-no-movement-peace-talks-with-ukraine-2022-05-18/">started and</a> stopped multiple times. </p>
<p>Now, more than six months after the invasion, peace between the two countries seems far off. </p>
<p>Gannady Gatilov, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/c9381570-5e3c-4e89-a5a0-7a98bbd880f6">said on Aug. 22, 2022</a>, that he does not see any imminent possibility for a diplomatic solution. </p>
<p>Ukrainian women <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/27/world/europe/ukraine-war-women.html">have had a large presence</a> in the war, from joining the military and leading humanitarian work to <a href="https://theconversation.com/even-once-female-ukrainian-refugees-reach-safety-they-face-new-burdens-as-single-heads-of-household-179544">becoming breadwinners</a> and taking on new jobs. While it is unclear how or when peace negotiations may resume, it is easy to spot the conspicuous <a href="https://blogs.prio.org/2022/04/ukrainian-women-engage-in-resistance-and-should-be-in-the-peace-talks-new-survey-evidence/">lack of women around the table</a> during previous rounds of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.sandiego.edu/directory/biography.php?profile_id=11842">a researcher</a> focused on gendered experiences of conflict and crises, I think it is important to understand <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03050629.2018.1492386">that including women</a> – if they are from varied backgrounds and can participate in a meaningful way, not in a tokenistic manner – in talks to end war is critical for building more effective, longer-lasting peace agreements.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481608/original/file-20220829-8838-cbl87o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two rows of men in dark suits sit around a formal white table, with three men sitting at the head of it. Behind them are Ukrainian, Turkish and Russian flags." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481608/original/file-20220829-8838-cbl87o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481608/original/file-20220829-8838-cbl87o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481608/original/file-20220829-8838-cbl87o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481608/original/file-20220829-8838-cbl87o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481608/original/file-20220829-8838-cbl87o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481608/original/file-20220829-8838-cbl87o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481608/original/file-20220829-8838-cbl87o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">No women appeared to participate in March 2022 peace talks between Ukraine and Russia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/turkish-foreign-minister-mevlut-cavusoglu-gives-a-thank-you-speech-picture-id1239588916">Cem Ozdel/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why women’s participation matters</h2>
<p>Peace talks are complicated procedures that, more often than not, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-peace-talks-fail-a-negotiation-expert-answers-5-questions-about-the-slim-chances-for-a-peace-deal-between-russia-and-ukraine-180392">do not result</a> in an actual peace agreement. The negotiators at the table are typically members of a political or military elite and are individually selected by leaders of warring parties. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03050629.2012.659139">Women’s participation</a> in peace talks has been shown to have a strong impact on the way these conversations proceed – and whether they lead to lasting peace – in several key ways.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.peacewomen.org/sites/default/files/Making%20Women%20Count%20Not%20Just%20Counting%20Women.pdf">2016 study</a> on 40 peace processes conducted since the end of the Cold War, for example, found that when women’s groups are able to exercise strong influence on the negotiation process, there was a much higher chance that an agreement would be reached, compared with when women’s groups had weak or no influence. </p>
<p>When women participate, <a href="https://www.ipinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/IPI-E-pub-Reimagining-Peacemaking.pdf">it’s also more</a> likely that a ceasefire will last, rather than remaining words on paper.</p>
<p>Women also tend to help shape the outcomes of an agreement. In <a href="https://giwps.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Women-Leading-Peace.pdf">Northern Ireland, Guatemala, Kenya and the Philippines</a>, women envisioned peace beyond just ending immediate fighting. In these cases, they adopted a longer-term view, planning for economic growth in a post-conflict period, for example.</p>
<p>Women have helped lead formal negotiations to end wars in places from <a href="https://www.inclusivepeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/case-study-women-burundi-1996-2014-en.pdf">Burundi</a> and <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2017/2/gender-and-the-role-of-women-in-colombias-peace-process">Colombia</a> to <a href="https://www.inclusivepeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/case-study-women-kenya-2008-2013-en.pdf">Kenya</a> and <a href="https://giwps.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Women-Leading-Peace.pdf">Northern Ireland</a>.</p>
<p>But it’s more often that <a href="https://www.cfr.org/womens-participation-in-peace-processes/">women do not participate in peace talks</a>. Women made up 6% of mediators, 6% of signatories and 13% of negotiators in the major peace processes that took place from 1992 to 2019. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17400201.2019.1576515?src=recsys">Many obstacles</a> prevent women’s meaningful participation in peace processes, particularly when there is <a href="https://eeas.europa.eu/archives/features/features-working-women/working-with-women/docs/2014-05-08_toolkit_promoting-womens-participation-peace-neg_en.pdf">no official policy or agreement to ensure their involvement</a>. </p>
<p>This exclusion is often driven by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14616740010019820">the idea that women are victims of conflict rather than political leaders</a>, or that men hold most of <a href="https://www.ipinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/IPI-E-pub-Reimagining-Peacemaking.pdf">the power</a> in negotiating war and peace. </p>
<h2>The case of Ukraine and Russia</h2>
<p>Following Russia and Ukraine’s conflict over the eastern part of Ukraine and Crimea, the two countries signed the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/what-are-minsk-agreements-ukraine-conflict-2022-02-21/">Minsk I and Minsk II</a> agreements in 2014 and 2015 to end the fighting. But these deals were not successful at maintaining a ceasefire.</p>
<p>Only <a href="https://giwps.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Womens-Peacebuilding-Strategies-Amidst-Conflict-1.pdf">two Ukrainian women</a> participated in the Minsk agreement process, with one serving as a Ukrainian humanitarian envoy and the other as a negotiations expert for Ukraine. These processes also did not welcome nongovernmental women’s organizations and other local community leaders at the table. </p>
<p>However, Ukrainian women did play a <a href="https://giwps.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Womens-Peacebuilding-Strategies-Amidst-Conflict-1.pdf">significant role</a> in unofficial work related to peace building in 2014 and 2015. They led conversations between communities in conflict with one another and advocated for policies to help women who had been displaced from their homes or who experienced violence.</p>
<p>Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, women have stepped up their involvement in the war even further, <a href="https://time.com/6159261/women-ukraine-war-russia/">documenting atrocities and potential war crimes</a>, for example. Ukrainian women also make up about <a href="https://time.com/6159261/women-ukraine-war-russia/">15% of Ukraine’s army</a>.</p>
<p>At the same time, the war is having a <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2022/05/rapid-gender-analysis-of-ukraine">disproportionate impact on women and minorities</a>, particularly around the ability to receive health care and get food, but also because of the sexual and gender-based violence Ukrainian <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/06/1119832">women have endured</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481610/original/file-20220829-8843-ybhfab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman wearing a yellow shirt is seen behind a fence, which is woven with brown and green camouflage colored strings." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481610/original/file-20220829-8843-ybhfab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481610/original/file-20220829-8843-ybhfab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481610/original/file-20220829-8843-ybhfab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481610/original/file-20220829-8843-ybhfab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481610/original/file-20220829-8843-ybhfab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481610/original/file-20220829-8843-ybhfab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481610/original/file-20220829-8843-ybhfab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A woman weaves a camouflage net for the Ukrainian military in Kyiv on Aug. 23, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/woman-weaves-a-camouflage-net-for-the-ukrainian-armed-forces-in-kyiv-picture-id1242681063">Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Beyond participation</h2>
<p>Still, what’s most important is how <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/wps/2022/03/28/making-womens-voices-count-what-does-the-move-from-more-to-meaningful-participation-look-like-in-peace-negotiations/">meaningful women’s participation</a> actually is in peace talks, not just whether they are able to sit at the negotiation table.</p>
<p>This issue extends into whether women can influence the discussion and ultimate design of the peace agreement. This kind of democratization of peace negotiations is linked to a <a href="https://giwps.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Gender-Provisions-Peace-Agreements.pdf">greater likelihood</a> of a peace agreement <a href="https://giwps.georgetown.edu/what-has-happened-to-gender-provisions-in-peace-agreements/">explicitly ensuring rights for women</a>. </p>
<p>Including women from a range of backgrounds, especially women from marginalized communities and people who <a href="https://www.usip.org/publications/2021/06/why-gender-and-sexual-minority-inclusion-peacebuilding-matters">have different gender identities</a> and sexual orientations, can also help build a final agreement. Some women may work together across demographic or social lines in pursuit of common goals, <a href="https://giwps.georgetown.edu/resource/women-leading-peace/">but others may not</a>. </p>
<p>Formal peace negotiations are not the only method of reducing conflict and building peace – women have long played a role in <a href="https://giwps.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Beyond-the-Negotiating-Table.pdf">informal peacebuilding</a> in Ukraine and in other conflicts in various ways. </p>
<p>However, peace talks are important processes that can set the stage for rebuilding stability. </p>
<p>Including women as decision-makers on the full range of issues involved in peace talks – <a href="https://wps.unwomen.org/pdf/CH03.pdf">including discussions about peace, security, economic recovery and governance</a> – can help fully realize the benefits of lasting peace.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189207/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Briana Mawby has previously received funding from the Swedish International Development Cooperation
Agency and the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs for research in Ukraine.</span></em></p>While Russia and Ukraine’s war wages on, previous peace talk discussions didn’t appear to include women. Changing that can make a difference, research shows.Briana Mawby, Program Officer for Women, Peace and Security, University of San DiegoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1782342022-08-04T19:54:29Z2022-08-04T19:54:29ZHow sport transformed the lives of young Colombians<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477217/original/file-20220802-22-nnapcv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C2915%2C1928&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Women compete in the 20-kilometre race walk at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in August 2016. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A project implemented in a low-income area of Bogota, Colombia, part of the <a href="https://jsfd.org/2018/11/01/sport-for-development-and-peace-in-latin-america-and-the-caribbean/">Sport for Development and Peace</a> initiative, used <a href="https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/tokyo-olympics/how-olympic-speed-walking-works-and-what-know-2021-races">Olympic race walking</a> as a tool to foster the development of youth from low-income neighbourhoods.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/dspd/sport-development-peace.html">Sport for Development and Peace</a> is an international movement that started with the United Nations Millennium Development Goals from 2000 to 2015, and continued with the <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">Sustainable Development Goals from 2015 to 2030.</a></p>
<p>The Colombian program, which ran between 1996 and 2012 in the Ciudad Bolivar area but was discontinued eight years ago, helped underprivileged youth. The program used sport to help young people steer clear of the dangers they faced on a daily basis, including alcoholism, violence, prostitution, drug addiction, vandalism and armed gangs.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-sport-for-development-and-peace-can-transform-the-lives-of-youth-126151">How sport for development and peace can transform the lives of youth</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>As researchers from German, Colombian and Canadian institutions, we have examined how sport has transformed the lives of <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/colombia/children-and-armed-conflict-colombia-report-secretary-general-s20211022">Colombian youth affected by armed conflict.</a></p>
<h2>50 years of Colombian armed conflict</h2>
<p>Colombia has a <a href="https://www.dane.gov.co/index.php/estadisticas-por-tema/demografia-y-poblacion/censo-nacional-de-poblacion-y-vivenda-2018/cuantos-somos">population of just over 48 million, of which 22.6 per cent are children under the age of 14.</a>
<a href="https://www.centrodememoriahistorica.gov.co/micrositios/informeGeneral/index.html">For more than 50 years</a>, the country has struggled with a war between the government and various rebel factions that has resulted in more than 220,000 deaths, 81.5 per cent of them civilians and the rest combatants.</p>
<p>According to a <a href="https://reporting.unhcr.org/sites/default/files/gr2019/pdf/GR2019_English_Full_lowres.pdf#_ga=2.261905161.507924947.1593018366-1968097325.1593018366">2019 report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees</a>, Colombia has eight million internally displaced persons due to the conflict, the largest number in the world. A <a href="https://www.unidadvictimas.gov.co/sites/default/files/documentosbiblioteca/ninez.PDF">Colombian report</a> also found more than two million children and adolescents have been direct victims of the unrest.</p>
<p>Bogotá, the Colombian capital, has more than <a href="https://sitios.dane.gov.co/cnpv/#!/">seven million inhabitants</a> and its territory is divided among 20 localities, known as <em>localidades</em>. </p>
<p>Ciudad Bolivar is among these urban areas struggling <a href="https://revistas.uniandes.edu.co/doi/abs/10.7440/res50.2014.09">with poverty and violence</a>.<a href="http://www.sdp.gov.co/sites/default/files/indice_distribucion_recursos_fdl_17-20.pdf">It has a population of almost 700,000 people</a> in more than 200 neighbourhoods, and is located in the south of the city.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman walks along a path towards a crowded urban area seen at the foot of the hills she's walking on." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473073/original/file-20220707-10739-384zrc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473073/original/file-20220707-10739-384zrc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473073/original/file-20220707-10739-384zrc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473073/original/file-20220707-10739-384zrc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473073/original/file-20220707-10739-384zrc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473073/original/file-20220707-10739-384zrc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473073/original/file-20220707-10739-384zrc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A woman walks along a path in the Ciudad Bolivar area, south of Bogota, Colombia, in 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This area is one of the main <a href="http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1900-23862010000200008#:%7E:text=Los%20hallazgos%20de%20su%20aplicaci%C3%B3n,sobre%20la%20prevalencia%20de%20ansiedad">settlements for displaced</a> people arriving in the city.</p>
<p>Many are slum-dwellers. Although most inhabitants are <a href="https://www.urosario.edu.co/Universidad-Ciencia-Desarrollo/ur/Fasciculos-Anteriores/Tomo-IV-2009/Fasciculo-3/ur/Localidad-de-Ciudad-Bolivar/">classified as low-income</a>, 14.5 per cent are classified as <a href="http://www.sdp.gov.co/sites/default/files/indice_distribucion_recursos_fdl_17-20.pdf">people with “unmet basic needs,”</a> meaning they endure inadequate and overcrowded housing and inadequate basic services like electricity and drinking water. This includes school-age children who don’t attend school.</p>
<p>The area is also considered one of the <a href="https://www.urosario.edu.co/Universidad-Ciencia-Desarrollo/ur/Fasciculos-Anteriores/Tomo-IV-2009/Fasciculo-3/ur/Localidad-de-Ciudad-Bolivar/">most dangerous in the city</a>, with very few play spaces for children. It’s also risky for them to go anywhere alone due to the presence of street gangs and other illegal groups. </p>
<p>Finally, Ciudad Bolivar is the area in Bogotá with the highest number of children under five years old <a href="http://www.sdp.gov.co/sites/default/files/indice_distribucion_recursos_fdl_17-20.pdf">living in poverty</a> (17 per cent).</p>
<h2>Sport’s impact on young Colombians</h2>
<p>In 1996, an athletics club called the <a href="https://espanol.clonline.org/escuela-de-comunidad"><em>Escuela de comunidad</em></a> was established in the area under the responsibility of a physical education teacher. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yExAoWig8jA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A video segment about the sports club at the <em>Escuela de comunidad</em>. (Tegwen Gadais)</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From the beginning, the club received the support of the school and the community. Due to the success of the project, the Marcha Olimpica Club was born in 1999. Young athletes trained under the <a href="https://mapcarta.com/N3497085881"><em>palo del ahorcado</em></a>, an outdoor space that is meaningful to the community.</p>
<p>The objective of the program was twofold. </p>
<p>From the training point of view, the aim was to ensure young people would continue their education in order to obtain technical or professional training that would allow them to earn a living after their retirement from sports. </p>
<p>From an athletic point of view, the program aimed to support young athletes in their athletic development so they could perform to the best of their abilities and achieve important athletic results in their category at the district, national and international levels.</p>
<p>Throughout the years, several athletes qualified for the national championships and the <a href="https://inside.fei.org/fei/games/cont-regi-games/odesur">South American Games</a>. Since its creation, eight young people between 13 and 16 years old were selected to compete in the events of 800-, 1,500- and 3,000-metre Olympic race walking.</p>
<p>Six of them qualified for the national intercollegiate competitions.</p>
<h2>Spurred enrolment</h2>
<p>This initial success attracted an increasing number of youth to register in the club. Subsequently, approximately 100 young athletes began to compete and to win in various competitions, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/04/sports/olympics/olympic-racewalking-is-more-than-just-a-stroll.html">attracting the attention of the international media</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.idrd.gov.co/">The Bogotá sports authority</a> selected about 40 young people to represent the community in Colombian competition and supported them with various services (transportation, tech, food and health). About 10 of the athletes from this club became national, South American, Pan American and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-athletics-world-m20walk-idUSKCN1AT0LR">world championship medallists.</a> </p>
<p>The goal of <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/dspd/sport-development-peace.html">Sport for Development and Peace</a> is to use sport as a vehicle to achieve various social and humanitarian missions: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/sportrxiv/rjvcf/">education, social cohesion, health, reintegration, diplomacy and peace</a>. </p>
<p>Sport can serve as a lever for social integration or reintegration in developing countries or areas affected by conflict. For young people in particular, sport can be a means of instilling respect for opponents and rules, teamwork, sportsmanship, determination and discipline.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-sport-for-development-and-peace-can-transform-the-lives-of-youth-126151">How sport for development and peace can transform the lives of youth</a>
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<p>Sport can also provide individual development, health promotion and disease prevention, gender equality, social integration, peace-building, conflict prevention and resolution, and disaster and trauma relief. From a development perspective, the objective is to promote sports for the masses, not elite sports.</p>
<h2>How sport can change lives and nations</h2>
<p>In practice, Sport for Development and Peace can take many forms. It can mean organizing clubs and tournaments in El Salvador to taking back territory from street gangs and getting children into school. Or it may be training coaches in the poorest neighbourhoods in Montréal to mentor children. </p>
<p>In Madagascar, sport is used to <a href="https://theconversation.com/les-activites-artistiques-et-sportives-contribuent-au-bien-etre-et-a-la-resilience-145005">keep children busy</a> after school and away from street dangers.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/les-activites-artistiques-et-sportives-contribuent-au-bien-etre-et-a-la-resilience-145005">Les activités artistiques et sportives contribuent au bien-être et à la résilience</a>
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<p>It can also take the form of soccer matches between Palestinian and Israeli youth to work on social cohesion and teach them to respect each other.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473074/original/file-20220707-22-ls2w6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A Black man wears a green ball cap while shaking the hands of a white man holding a trophy." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473074/original/file-20220707-22-ls2w6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473074/original/file-20220707-22-ls2w6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473074/original/file-20220707-22-ls2w6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473074/original/file-20220707-22-ls2w6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473074/original/file-20220707-22-ls2w6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473074/original/file-20220707-22-ls2w6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473074/original/file-20220707-22-ls2w6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">South African rugby captain Francois Pienaar receives the Rugby World Cup trophy from President Nelson Mandela after South Africa defeated New Zealand in June 1995.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo / Ross Setford)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>None of this is new. In 1894, <a href="https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/69149">Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games, declared</a>: “I remain convinced that sport is one of the most powerful elements of peace and I am confident in its future action.”</p>
<p>But it was actually the words of Nelson Mandela that inspired the contemporary movement. <a href="https://www.globalgoals.org/news/sport-for-development-and-peace/">In a speech at the 2000 Laureus World Sports Awards, he said:</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire, it has the power to unite people in a way that few other things can.”</p>
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<p>Indeed, <a href="https://www.history.com/news/nelson-mandela-1995-rugby-world-cup-south-african-unity">Mandela himself used the power of sport at the 1995 Rugby World Cup,</a> after the official end of apartheid, to unite the South African people — perhaps the best example of the healing nature of sport.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178234/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tegwen Gadais receives funding from the Québec government. He is a consultant to UNESCO and the World Bank. He is affiliated with the UNESCO Chair (cudc.uqam.ca).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mauricio Garzon, Natalia Varela, and Victoria Calzolari Soto do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A Colombian program to help disadvantaged youth used sport to help them steer clear of the dangers they faced on a daily basis, including violence, prostitution, drug addiction, vandalism and gangs.Tegwen Gadais, Professor, Département des sciences de l'activité physique, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Mauricio Garzon, Associate Lecturer, Physical Activity Sciences, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Natalia Varela, Professor, Family and Childhood Studies, Universidad Externado de ColombiaVictoria Calzolari Soto, Ph.D. Candidate, Social Sciences, Deutsche Sporthochschule KolnLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1862212022-07-04T15:12:58Z2022-07-04T15:12:58ZColombia: Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez have achieved a historic victory for the left – so who are they?<p>It was, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/colombia-elects-first-black-woman-vp-francia-marquez-who-vows-stand-nobodies-2022-06-20/">said Francia Márquez Mina</a>, a victory for “the nobodies”. Speaking in Bogota on June 19 after the results of the Colombian presidential election were announced, the newly elected vice-president struck a jubilant note after becoming the first black woman to be elected to the office – on a ticket with former guerrilla fighter Gustavo Petro, the country’s first left-wing president.</p>
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<p>After 214 years we have achieved a government of the people, a popular government, a government of people with calloused hands.</p>
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<p>Petro and Márquez beat millionaire businessman Rodolfo Hernández, taking <a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/the-colombian-presidential-elections/">50.5% of the votes</a>. Their platform largely focused on economic and environmental matters, along with a pledge to tax the rich, combat income inequality, reform healthcare and pension systems, promote peace and tackle corruption. </p>
<p>But first they need to bring an end to what Márquez calls the “politics of death”, which has a long history in Colombia. In 2016, a peace deal was signed with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), bringing to an end 60 years of armed conflict with this guerrilla faction. But violence has not ceased, and since 2016, over 1,200 human rights activists have been killed – <a href="https://indepaz.org.co/lideres-sociales-defensores-de-dd-hh-y-firmantes-de-acuerdo-asesinados-en-2022/">89 in 2022</a> – and 21 former Farc fighters murdered this year so far. </p>
<p>Colombians have voted against decades of dispossession and violence. A number of firsts have been achieved with this election result. It is the first time in Colombian history that leftist candidates have made it alive to the final round of an election – notwithstanding constant death threats during the campaign. It is also the first time that an ex-guerrilla has been elected to the top job, and that a black woman, victim of the armed conflict, will occupy the vice-presidency.</p>
<p>Petro, 62, was a fighter with the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-61863885">M-19 guerrilla group</a>, a leftist armed guerrilla faction, mostly urban, that operated from 1974 until disarmament in 1990. After the 1990 peace process, M-19 <a href="https://www.elespectador.com/politica/la-constitucion-del-91-el-mejor-legado-del-m-19-article-199833/">played a key role </a> in the constitutional reform of 1991. Since then, Petro has been constantly involved in mainstream Colombian politics: he has served as mayor of Bogotá and was a senator until the election.</p>
<p>Márquez, 40, comes from the war-torn department of Cauca in Colombia. She became <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/06/world/americas/francia-marquez-colombia-vp.html">an activist at the age of 13</a>, and a mother at the age of 16. In 2018, she won the <a href="https://www.goldmanprize.org/recipient/francia-marquez/">Goldman environmental prize</a> for mobilising women to halt illegal mining in her territory. As she <a href="https://elpais.com/america-colombia/elecciones-presidenciales/2022-06-19/francia-marquez-y-el-asalto-al-poder-de-los-nadies.html">told a rally</a> during the election campaign: “I have not asked to be in politics. But politics messed with me and now, we are messing with her.”</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/inside-a-reintegration-camp-for-colombias-ex-guerrilla-fighters-words-of-reconciliation-are-our-only-weapons-now-184074">Inside a reintegration camp for Colombia's ex-guerrilla fighters: ‘Words of reconciliation are our only weapons now’</a>
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<h2>Multi-faceted victory</h2>
<p>The alliance of Petro and Márquez was timely, refreshing and highly strategic. Bogotá-based journalist <a href="https://elpais.com/america-colombia/elecciones-presidenciales/2022-06-22/el-largo-camino-de-la-izquierda-colombiana-al-poder.html">Camila Osorio</a> has identified four key long-term factors that influenced this shift in Colombian politics. Importantly, the revised constitution in 1991 included a requirement for diversity in Colombian politics. This has led to a wider array of voices and opinions in the public sphere. Meanwhile, the 2016 peace agreement changed the narrative about the left and its association with the guerrillas. This then made way for the <a href="https://theconversation.com/face-aux-injustices-la-colombie-senflamme-et-letat-reprime-brutalement-160667">widespread protests of 2019 and 2021</a> which generated mass support for a wider and more inclusive political conversation.</p>
<p>The success of Petro and Márquez is a legacy of the nation-wide <a href="https://elpais.com/america-colombia/elecciones-presidenciales/2022-06-22/el-largo-camino-de-la-izquierda-colombiana-al-poder.html">mobilisations of the left over decades </a>, which has included constant activism from grassroots NGOs, feminist and antiracist collectives, underground student associations, guerrilla groups and the Communist Party, which was forced to go clandestine because of political persecution.</p>
<h2><em>Vivir sabroso</em> or living with dignity</h2>
<p>However, it was, above all, women, Afro-Colombians, Indigenous people and the dispossessed that guaranteed the election of Petro and Márquez. Petro’s campaign for the second round has been able to mobilise strategic cities such as Cali and Bogotá that were key to the 2019 and 2021 social protests. The two leaders were also very successful at getting the vote out, combating apathy and abstention.</p>
<p>It was Márquez’s longstanding activism that was key to rallying voters. Her ability to mobilise the <a href="https://nacla.org/colombian-elections-diaspora-voters-support-francia-marquez">Colombians living abroad</a>, was an important factor. But years of experience as a black activist, a feminist and a representative of victims of the armed conflict meant Márquez was able to represent herself as the embodiment of the grassroots struggle for change in Colombia.</p>
<p>Reclaiming publicly Afro-Colombian outfits and openly advocating for intersectional feminism, Márquez’s main campaign slogan was <em>vivir sabroso</em>, which translates as “to live with flavour”. It is an Afro-Colombian conception of “living without fear; it refers to living in dignity; it refers to living a life with rights guaranteed”, <a href="https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2022/06/22/vivir-sabroso-francia-marquez-colombia-que-es-orix/">according to Márquez</a>. Petro, meanwhile, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRaF6x647Ko">called for</a> a “politics of love” in his victory speech – which he defined as “a politics of understanding, a politics of dialogue, of understanding one another”.</p>
<p>This positive, inclusive language from Petro and Márquez stands in stark contrast to Colombia’s traditional political discourse, which has tended to focus on the needs of political and social elites and has largely ignored the more marginalised sectors of society. Their campaign rhetoric was geared towards prioritising the needs of all of Colombia after decades of armed violence and inequality.</p>
<p>They will face a raft of challenges – principal among which are the inequalities still rampant in Colombia as well as continuing political violence. The cultivation of <a href="https://www.unodc.org/unodc/es/frontpage/2018/September/informe-de-unodc-reporta-alza-histrica-en-los-cultivos-de-coca-en-colombia.html">coca</a> has been on the rise again since 2018, corruption remains entrenched, as does longstanding structural oppression, such as gender-based violence, class divisions and racism. </p>
<p>Trying to achieve this level of social and economic reform will be extremely difficult. As their election victory suggests, the country remains deeply divided and there are significant interests lined up in opposition. The pair have received – and continue to receive – <a href="https://towardfreedom.org/story/archives/americas/celebrations-in-colombias-streets-gustavo-petro-to-be-first-left-wing-president-and-francia-marquez-the-first-afro-descendant-woman-vp/">regular death threats</a>. But their ability to mobilise a broad array of social movements and mass-based collectives will certainly give them a powerful life force to confront the next four years.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186221/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Priscyll Anctil Avoine receives funding from Vinnova / Marie Curie Seal of Excellence. She is also the Director of Fundación Lüvo, a feminist and antiracist collective. </span></em></p>Colombia has elected its first left-wing government, led by a former guerrilla fighter and a female black activist.Priscyll Anctil Avoine, Vinnova/Marie Curie Fellow - Researcher in Feminist Security Studies, Lund UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1849152022-06-16T18:09:26Z2022-06-16T18:09:26ZWhat’s at stake as Colombians choose between Trump-like populist and leftist former guerrilla for president<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469090/original/file-20220615-11810-g5wxlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C16%2C5534%2C3575&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The new poster boy of left-wing South American politics?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/supporters-of-colombian-left-wing-presidential-candidate-news-photo/1241268002?adppopup=true">Juan Barreto/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Colombians will <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/05/30/1102025825/colombia-presidential-election-runoff">decide their next president</a> on June 19, 2022, with a choice between two candidates promising “change.” But what they mean by change is very, very different.</p>
<p>The two runoff contenders – <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-colombia-election-petro/colombias-leftist-petro-the-candidate-who-wants-to-upset-the-status-quo-idUSKCN1IP22P">one a left-wing senator and former guerrilla</a>, the other <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/06/15/1102927650/colombia-presidential-election-2022-rodolfo-hernandez-gustavo-petro">a right-wing populist</a> in the mold of Donald Trump – hold views on the country’s past, present and future that are poles apart. Whoever wins will replace Ivan Duque, an establishment conservative who has served as president since 2018.</p>
<hr>
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<p><em>You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/audio-narrated-99682">here</a>.</em></p>
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<p>As a <a href="https://www.umass.edu/afroam/member/agustin-lao-montes">scholar of Latin American politics</a>, I see this election as a pivotal moment for Colombia. The outcome could determine whether the country deepens its commitment to democracy or alternatively cultivates authoritarian tendencies in society and politics. And it comes at a sensitive time. Whoever wins the presidency will inherit a host of challenges, from shoring up the fragile <a href="https://www.state.gov/fifth-anniversary-of-colombias-peace-accord/">peace deal that in 2016</a> committed to end a decadeslong conflict, to combating <a href="https://colombiareports.com/colombias-wealth-gap-bogging-down-economic-growth-and-progress-world-bank/">rampant inequality</a>, <a href="https://www.wola.org/2021/02/colombia-begins-2021-alarming-records-violence-urgent-action/">widespread violence</a> and <a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/Analysis/2022/06/15/Why-Colombia-next-president-will-have-to-hit-the-humanitarian-ground-running">the region’s migration crisis</a>.</p>
<h2>From Historic Pact to historic victory?</h2>
<p>The runoff follows a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/29/colombia-election-petro-gutierrez-hernandez/">first-round vote on May 29</a> that narrowed the presidential choice to two from a field of six. The race is now between <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/colombias-petro-firebrand-former-rebel-vows-profound-change-2022-05-30/">Gustavo Petro</a>, who heads the Historic Pact – a left-center coalition – and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/15/world/americas/rodolfo-hernandez-colombia-election.html">Rodolfo Hernandez</a>, a controversial businessman and former mayor, running for the League of Anti-corrupt Governors Party.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman holding a pink umbrella is seen near a poster poster promoting presidential candidate Rodolfo Hernandez." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469092/original/file-20220615-21-jarog3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469092/original/file-20220615-21-jarog3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469092/original/file-20220615-21-jarog3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469092/original/file-20220615-21-jarog3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469092/original/file-20220615-21-jarog3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469092/original/file-20220615-21-jarog3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469092/original/file-20220615-21-jarog3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Presidential candidate Rodolfo Hernandez is seen as the ‘Colombian Trump.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/woman-is-seen-near-political-propaganda-of-colombian-news-photo/1241161263?adppopup=true">Photo by Raul Arboleda/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Latest polls indicate that <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/new-poll-shows-tight-runoff-between-colombias-presidential-candidates-2022-06-10/">the race is too tight to call</a> despite a healthy lead for the Historic Pact candidate in the first round of voting.</p>
<p>Indeed, Petro – who is running on a ticket with Black grassroots activist and lawyer Francia Marquez as his vice presidential pick – <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1311090/number-votes-cast-colombian-presidential-election-primaries-candidate/">garnered 8.5 million votes on May 29</a>, some 40.3% of the total. </p>
<p>However, Hernandez – who got close to 6 million votes – is likely to benefit by being the favorite to pick up the majority of the 5 million votes that went to the third-placed candidate in the May 29 ballot, right-wing candidate Federico Gutierrez. </p>
<h2>The rise of the ‘TikTok King’</h2>
<p>The last few weeks of the campaign have shown a more complex and fluid political scenario, making predicting a winner difficult.</p>
<p>Hernandez climbed ahead of Petro in <a href="https://www.as-coa.org/articles/poll-tracker-colombias-2022-presidential-runoff">polls conducted the week after May 29</a>. But several factors may yet hamper Hernandez. </p>
<p>The 77-year-old Hernandez presents himself as an outsider fighting corruption and running against the political establishment. But this has been undermined by the fact that he faces an <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/06/07/colombia-rodolfo-hernandez/">upcoming trial for corruption himself</a>. He denies the 200 charges of corruption, but some legal analysts <a href="https://www.infobae.com/america/colombia/2022/06/12/rodolfo-hernandez-lista-de-procesos-judiciales-como-avanzan-y-que-sucedera-con-ellos-si-gana-las-elecciones/">contend there is a strong case against him</a>. Hernandez has also been strongly <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/29/world/americas/establishment-conservatives-quickly-align-with-hernandez-after-his-unexpected-second-place-win.html">endorsed by Colombia’s right-wing political elite</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, his <a href="https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2022/06/01/rodolfo-hernandez-no-asistira-debates-orix/">reluctance to debate the issues</a> – he agreed to a public sparring with Petro only after being <a href="https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2022/06/16/debate-petro-rodolfo-hernandez-colombia-elecciones-presidenciales-orix/">ordered to by court</a> – combined with assertions that he wishes to <a href="https://www.elespectador.com/politica/elecciones-colombia-2022/rodolfo-hernandez-y-el-estado-de-conmocion-interior-que-tan-constitucional-es/">dismiss the legislative branch</a> and will <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/15/world/americas/rodolfo-hernandez-colombia-election.html">declare a state of emergency</a> as soon as he is elected – puts his authoritarian edge on full display to the electorate. He has also been criticized for <a href="https://www.publimetro.co/noticias/2022/05/18/desempolvaron-que-rodolfo-hernandez-voto-no-al-plebiscito-por-la-paz/">voting against the peace agreement</a> in the 2016 national plebiscite.</p>
<p>Hernandez has been compared with other right-wing populists who have found success in recent years, such as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/30/world/americas/colombia-presidential-election-hernandez-petro.html">Donald Trump</a> and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Just like Trump, Hernandez is portrayed by his supporters as a successful entrepreneur who can put those skills to use as a good political administrator. And in line with Bolsonaro, he has been <a href="https://english.elpais.com/international/2022-06-01/colombias-trump-rodolfo-hernandez-ideally-women-should-devote-themselves-to-raising-children.html">openly sexist</a> <a href="https://www.lr21.com.uy/mundo/1460317-rodolfo-hernandez-candidato-colombiano-nazismo-misoginia-xenofobia">and xenophobic</a>. </p>
<p>Even his reputation as the “<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-61631964">King of TikTok</a>” can be seen as ripped from the playbooks of other populists, including Trump, with an emphasis on simple messages.</p>
<p>Still, Hernandez’s right-wing message evidently appeals to many Colombians and has been helped along by establishment conservatives eliminated in the first round of voting throwing their support – and potentially their voters – his way.</p>
<p>His self-presentation as an outsider fighting the political establishment also appeals to many voters who are tired of a political system that had not solved the violence, poverty and corruption that permeates in the country.</p>
<p>By contrast, many analysts from the mainstream media in Colombia have suggested that Petro’s campaign may have peaked in the first round and will find it difficult to grow much in the runoff. </p>
<p>Leaders of the Hope Center Coalition publicly backed Petro after their candidate came fourth on May 29. But the 900,000 votes the centrist candidate garnered pale in comparison with the 5 million votes that went to third-place establishment conservative candidate Federico Gutiérrez – who has since endorsed Hernandez.</p>
<p>Turnout may be key – <a href="https://thebogotapost.com/colombia-election-results/50064/">just over 50% of the electorate</a> participated in the May 29 contest. Political analysts suggest that a larger turnout – especially a big youth showing – <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-29/ex-rebel-conservative-and-magnate-fight-for-colombia-presidency?sref=Hjm5biAW">would benefit Petro</a>.</p>
<h2>Third time lucky for Petro?</h2>
<p>For Petro, this is his third run for president. In 2018 <a href="https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Gustavo-Petro-with-8-Million-Votes-There-Is-No-Defeat-Here-20180617-0019.html">he finished second</a>, with 8 million votes.</p>
<p>He’s outperforming his previous runs, in large part because of the Historic Pact. Formed in February 2021, it’s the largest coalition of social movements and political organizations in Colombian history and has been injecting momentum into his campaign. Petro has been aided, too, by the rising national profile of his running mate, <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/world/francia-marquez-brazil/">Francia Marquez</a>.</p>
<p>Francia came second to Petro in a primary race to pick the Historic Pact’s candidate, running as the head of a broad-based movement that represents groups that have long been excluded from political power in Colombia. Francia – who is poised to become <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/21/francia-marquez-colombia-election/">South America’s first Black female vice president</a> – advocates policies geared at empowering Black, poor and Indigenous Colombians. She also has strong support among students, other young Colombians and members of the country’s LGBTQ community.</p>
<p>Both Francia and Petro are viewed <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-colombia-election-petro/colombias-leftist-petro-the-candidate-who-wants-to-upset-the-status-quo-idUSKCN1IP22P">as challenges to status quo</a> politics in Colombia.</p>
<p>Political opponents of Petro contend that his presidency could transform Colombia into “<a href="https://nypost.com/2022/06/06/colombias-presidential-race-will-decide-if-it-goes-the-way-of-venezuela/">another Venezuela</a>” characterized, as they see it, by a dictatorial regime that pushed the country into a humanitarian and economic crisis.</p>
<p>Yet Petro has repeatedly insisted that he is a progressive looking for change through democratic means. <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/04/28/1094609544/colombia-election-candidate-gustavo-petro">His platform</a> combines agrarian reform, progressive taxation, ecological clean energy, sustainable economic development and state investment in public education and health care.</p>
<h2>Toward democracy or authoritarianism?</h2>
<p>The first round vote in the Colombia presidential election was generally seen as a vote by the people against the status quo. Indeed, such sentiment had already been expressed by means of 2021’s <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/commentary/spotlight/colombias-national-strike-overview-of-the-situation-and-strategies-moving-forward/">national strike</a> – the largest in the country’s history.</p>
<p>In many respects, Colombia is an extremely fragile liberal democracy – scarred by rampant inequality and finding it hard to transition from a long-running conflict among government forces, paramilitary groups and leftists rebels.</p>
<p>As such, much is at stake in the June 19 runoff vote – it could decide whether Colombia deepens its commitment to democracy, peace and justice, or instead moves toward accommodating authoritarian tendencies.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184915/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Agustin Lao-Montes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Colombians go to the polls on June 19 to elect a new president. The vote comes at a delicate time in the country’s politics.Agustin Lao-Montes, Associate Professor of Sociology & Afro-American Studies, UMass AmherstLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1824082022-06-09T12:43:46Z2022-06-09T12:43:46ZImposing penalties can deter rule breakers – but the timing needs to be right<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467788/original/file-20220608-20-ensbqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=53%2C53%2C5072%2C3338&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Members of book clubs can impose rules through penalties.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/friends-enjoying-book-club-royalty-free-image/112228828?adppopup=true">Hill Street Studios/Stone via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many people participate in small groups like book clubs, community service associations or runners groups. These groups can be wonderful outlets for making friends. To ensure their smooth functioning, however, even informal and fun groups need to set expectations. </p>
<p>For example, members of a book club may become frustrated if one of them consistently shows up late. They may seek to penalize the latecomer by openly sharing their frustration or taking away certain privileges, like her ability to select the next book. This penalty is meant to encourage the latecomer to be punctual and become a more committed group member.</p>
<p>Yet penalizing rule breakers can be a double-edged sword. People might become more engaged and cooperative, but they also might withdraw from the group. How can groups punish rule breakers effectively? The answer, as we find <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/717102?journalCode=ajs">in our new study</a>, has to do with timing. </p>
<h2>More cooperation or less?</h2>
<p>Group members can respond differently to being penalized. Some studies suggest that people who are penalized for violating shared rules become <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2007.06.012">more prosocial</a> toward the group: They correct their behavior and cooperate more.</p>
<p>However, other <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/social-behaviour-its-elementary-forms/oclc/60900939">research</a> suggests that penalization can have a darker side to it. People often experience anger when they’re punished by their peers, which may lead them to withdraw from group activities and become less cooperative. They might even <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/227168">act to disrupt</a> the group’s functioning. </p>
<p>We wanted to find out whether the response to being punished depended on when the punishment occurred. </p>
<h2>Learning from microsavings groups in Colombia</h2>
<p>To examine this issue, we used proprietary data from a <a href="https://www.bancadelasoportunidades.gov.co/index.php/es/programas/programa-de-educacion-financiera-implementacion-de-la-metodologia-de-grupos-de-ahorro-y">government-led microsavings program in Colombia</a> carried out between 2016 and 2018. Microsavings groups are voluntary associations that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1162/qjec.2006.121.2.635">help low-income citizens save money</a> by prompting them to save small amounts at group meetings and temporarily restricting access to those funds. Microsavings groups were perfect for our study for two reasons. </p>
<p>First, members who joined the program met in groups every two weeks for about a year. At the first meeting, members established a set of rules and fines for rule-breaking. Rule-breaking included behaviors like showing up late or answering a phone call during a meeting. There were no changes in the rules and fines over time, allowing us to examine how people responded to the same punishments at different points in time.</p>
<p>Second, at each meeting, members could make one or two types of financial contributions. As they saw fit, they could allocate money to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/717102">their own private savings fund and some money to the group’s emergency fund</a>. The private fund was dedicated to the member’s personal financial goals. The emergency fund, by contrast, could be accessed by any member faced with a job loss, illness or other personal calamity. </p>
<p>As one participant told us, “When people have difficulties, we give them a hand. … So when someone gets sick or they say ‘Help me out with this!’, well, we help them.” At the end of the program, the emergency fund balance was split evenly across all members. </p>
<p>However, there might not be any funds remaining if members used the fund for emergencies. So when members made contributions to the fund, they supported the group without knowing if they would ever benefit personally from their contributions.</p>
<p>At each meeting, we tracked how much members contributed to their own savings funds, which we perceived as more self-oriented, versus the group emergency fund, which we perceived as more prosocial. On average, members contributed 6,399 pesos (US$1.90) to their private fund and 458 pesos ($0.14) to the emergency fund at each meeting. </p>
<h2>It’s all about timing</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A businesswoman in an orange shirt sitting at the head of the table during a meeting, with four co-workers seated around her and one standing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467556/original/file-20220607-40890-n8mwmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C0%2C8167%2C5457&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467556/original/file-20220607-40890-n8mwmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467556/original/file-20220607-40890-n8mwmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467556/original/file-20220607-40890-n8mwmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467556/original/file-20220607-40890-n8mwmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467556/original/file-20220607-40890-n8mwmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467556/original/file-20220607-40890-n8mwmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Group members might react in different ways during a disagreement or for being penalized.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/problems-on-a-business-meeting-royalty-free-image/1330679941?adppopup=true">PixelsEffect/Collections E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>We discovered that responses to punishment depend on when it occurs over the course of the group’s life. If members were fined for breaking the rules soon after the group formed, they responded less prosocially, allocating less to the emergency fund and more to their own savings. As compared with members who weren’t fined, their allocations were more self-oriented. For example, a member who was fined two weeks after the group formed was predicted to allocate only 1% of her financial contribution to the emergency fund, whereas a member who wasn’t fined was predicted to allocate 15%.</p>
<p>Yet as time went by, members responded to the same punishment by allocating more to the group fund and less to their own accounts. As compared with members who were not penalized, their contributions became more “other-oriented.” After about seven months of group meetings, penalized members were predicted to allocate 25% of their financial contribution to the emergency fund, whereas members who were not penalized allocated 19%.</p>
<p>Why does timing matter? We argue that <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2096408">when groups are newly formed, members do not yet have strong relationships</a> with other members, nor do they appreciate the group’s value. At this stage, they may feel that punishment is simply retribution for their “bad behavior.”</p>
<p>But over time, members come to value being part of the group. They recognize the benefits of membership, some of which they likely did not anticipate before joining. After a few meetings, they may see the same punishment as a useful reminder of why the rules help the group thrive and may, in turn, respond to punishment by contributing to a fund that supports the collective. </p>
<p>Allocating more to the emergency fund may also be a way of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511804618">reintegrating</a> into the group, showing other members that they remain committed despite their transgression.</p>
<h2>Applying insights to small groups</h2>
<p>As people start socializing again, there is an opportunity to rethink the conditions under which groups can best function, including situations where members break the rules.</p>
<p>It’s generally not possible or advisable to avoid enforcing rules early in the life of a group. However, groups might speed up the transition to prosocial responses to penalties by working to build strong relationships. </p>
<p>In doing so, individuals are more likely to see the group as valuable and to treat punishment as necessary to maintaining a collective endeavor.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182408/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Doering receives funding from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Lee-Chin Institute for Corporate Citizenship at the University of Toronto. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amandine Ody-Brasier does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>People penalized for violating a group’s shared rules could go on to disrupt its functioning, out of revenge. Two scholars suggest a way of imposing rules.Amandine Ody-Brasier, Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior, Yale UniversityLaura Doering, Assistant Professor of Strategic Management, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1840742022-06-06T09:29:39Z2022-06-06T09:29:39ZInside a reintegration camp for Colombia’s ex-guerrilla fighters: ‘Words of reconciliation are our only weapons now’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466299/original/file-20220531-12-1tn9em.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Olmedo Vega spent 35 years as a FARC guerrilla commander before moving to the Agua Bonita demobilisation camp. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph: Juan Pablo Valderrama</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>The election of Iván Duque four years ago was a threat for us. But we will continue to follow the peace agreement regardless of who is the next president of Colombia. We are more determined than ever to comply with the peace accords, and this is the reason they want to kill us.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJTwgO0dnq0">Olmedo Vega</a> spent 35 years as a guerrilla commander during Colombia’s armed conflict – one of the longest the world has ever seen. “The FARC is my family – I grew up with the guerrillas. But now I really want to commit to this new life here in Agua Bonita, along with my old comrades.”</p>
<p>Over the past four years, we have carried out 42 in-depth interviews with former guerrilla soldiers in Agua Bonita and some of the other 25 Territorial Spaces for Training, Reintegration and Reincorporation (ETCR in Spanish), developed by the Colombian government and the UN to resettle thousands of former FARC fighters after <a href="https://theconversation.com/santos-got-the-nobel-prize-for-not-giving-up-on-peace-heres-why-all-colombians-won-66689">the historic</a> 2016 peace agreement.</p>
<p>We sought to understand <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21647259.2022.2065792">the barriers faced by ex-combatants</a> as they try to reintegrate into civil society. With President Duque’s reign almost over and his successsor due to be <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-61628589">elected on June 19</a>, the result has major implications for the future of Colombia, the survival of the peace agreement, and the prospects of all those former combatants who have committed to a life without conflict.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong><em>This story is part of Conversation Insights</em></strong>
<br><em>The Insights team generates <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">long-form journalism</a> and is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects to tackle societal and scientific challenges.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>After six decades of fighting, it is estimated that almost 20% of the population is a <a href="http://www.centrodememoriahistorica.gov.co/micrositios/balances-jep/descargas/balance-sujetos-victimizados.pdf">direct victim of Colombia’s civil war</a> – <a href="http://centrodememoriahistorica.gov.co/descargas/informes2016/basta-ya-ingles/BASTA-YA-ingles.pdf">including</a> almost 9 million internally displaced people, 200,000 enforced disappearances, up to 40,000 kidnappings, more than 17,000 child soldiers, nearly 9,321 landmine incidents, and 16,324 acts of sexual violence. </p>
<p>For the almost 13,000 former FARC guerrillas, the end of the conflict initiated a process of “disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration” into Colombian society. But while positive steps were taken on both sides, <a href="https://indepaz.org.co/observatorio-de-derechos-humanos-y-conflictividades/">more than 300 massacres</a> have been recorded since the peace deal was signed on September 26 2016. Some <a href="https://colombia.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/04.04.22_eng_infographic_reportmar2022.pdf">316 FARC ex-combatants</a> and <a href="https://indepaz.org.co/">1,287 human rights defenders</a> have been murdered during this period of “peace”, putting the agreement under <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/07/1068371">increasing threat</a>.</p>
<h2>‘A place to have a dignified life’</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.reincorporacion.gov.co/es/reincorporacion/Paginas/ETCRs/AETCR_agua_bonita.aspx">Agua Bonita</a> (“Beautiful water”) guerrilla demobilisation camp is located on a small plateau on the edge of the Amazon basin, about an hour’s bumpy drive from Florencia, capital city of the Caquetá department in Colombia’s Amazonía region.</p>
<p>Since 1970, Caquetá had been the headquarters for both FARC and the guerrillas of <a href="https://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/mappingmilitants/profiles/popular-liberation-army">the Popular Liberation Army</a> (EPL). It is a geographically strategic corridor for illicit drug trafficking (particularly related to the production of cocaine), the transport of illegal weapons and the smuggling of kidnapped people. It is also one of the first places where guerrilla groups <a href="https://unmas.org/en/programmes/colombia">used landmines</a> to wrest territorial control from the Colombian army.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466085/original/file-20220530-20-af9in0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466085/original/file-20220530-20-af9in0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466085/original/file-20220530-20-af9in0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466085/original/file-20220530-20-af9in0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466085/original/file-20220530-20-af9in0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466085/original/file-20220530-20-af9in0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466085/original/file-20220530-20-af9in0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466085/original/file-20220530-20-af9in0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Agua Bonita’s high year-round temperatures and humidity mean it is a ‘heaven’ for fruit growing. Photo: Juan Pablo Valderrama.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2017, when ex-FARC combatants first arrived in the empty area where Agua Bonita now stands, they worked with local builders for seven months to construct 63 houses using glass-reinforced plastic and average-quality plywood. Local workers from Florencia and the nearby towns of Morelia, Belen de los Andaquíes and El Paujil helped them build the camp.</p>
<p>“At the beginning, it was difficult to work side-by-side with the local builders because of our stigma as <em>guerrilleros</em>,” recalled <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enPwRjHr4cg">Federico Montes</a>, one of the community leaders. “But after six months of working with us every day, a couple of them moved with their families to live here!”</p>
<p>Agua Bonita is situated amid one of the most biologically diverse terrestrial ecosystems in the world; home to around 40,000 plant species, nearly 1,300 bird species and 2.5 million different insects. Red-bellied piranhas and pink river dolphins swim in the waters here – yet in both 2019 and 2020, Colombia was named the world’s <a href="https://english.elpais.com/usa/2021-09-15/colombia-the-worlds-deadliest-country-for-environmentalists-in-2020.html">deadliest country for environmentalists</a> by human rights and environmental observers Global Witness.</p>
<p>According to Montes, Agua Bonita’s high year-round temperatures and humidity mean “the weather is perfect to grow yucca, plantain, cilantro and pineapple. And if you are feeling more adventurous, you can have trees of <a href="https://thefoodhog.com/araza-fruit-eugenia-stipitata/">araza</a>, <a href="https://www.fondazioneslowfood.com/en/ark-of-taste-slow-food/copoazu/">copoazu</a>, <a href="https://tipbuzz.com/yellow-dragon-fruit/">yellow pitaya</a> and other Amazonic crops. We are in the middle of a fruit heaven here.”</p>
<p>The community started with a population of more than 300 ex-FARC combatants. These days, it boasts a library with 19 computers and four printers, a bakery, convenience store and restaurant, a football pitch, health centre and community centre with a daycare facility for toddlers. Former combatants farm eight hectares of pineapple cash crop and have their own basic processing plant for fruit pulp. They also have six 13-metre-long fish tanks, a big hen house and dozens of large communal gardens.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466077/original/file-20220530-18-9pr3mr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Brightly painted hut in Colombia" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466077/original/file-20220530-18-9pr3mr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466077/original/file-20220530-18-9pr3mr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466077/original/file-20220530-18-9pr3mr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466077/original/file-20220530-18-9pr3mr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466077/original/file-20220530-18-9pr3mr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466077/original/file-20220530-18-9pr3mr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466077/original/file-20220530-18-9pr3mr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of the many thought-inspiring murals painted on the houses of Agua Bonita. Photo: Juan Pablo Valderrama.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One of the main attractions for visitors is the <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/misiononucol/albums/72157702429996671/">vibrant murals</a> painted on the 65 modest houses, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AguaBonitaFestival/">portraying</a> everything from local flora and fauna to guerrilla leaders and FARC paraphernalia. The most recurring features are the words “peace”, “reconciliation” and “hope”.</p>
<p>“Our main aim,” said Montes, “is to create a place to have a dignified life, where all together can be free, safe and secure, living in proper houses with access to health, employment, and education.”</p>
<p>Yet since the establishment of Agua Bonita in 2017, <a href="https://indepaz.org.co/observatorio-de-derechos-humanos-y-conflictividades/">29 ex-combatants</a> have been killed in the area. According to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJTwgO0dnq0">Olmedo</a>: “During the government of Duque, there has been a shortage of food, goodwill and economic support in Agua Bonita – a total lack of governmental support. But the presidential elections are giving us hope for a better future.”</p>
<h2>‘A lot of stigmas and negative attitudes against us’</h2>
<p>In the run up to his election in June 2018, Duque, as leader of the right-wing Centro Democrático party, fiercely opposed the peace agreement with the FARC, vowing to renegotiate what he described as a <a href="https://theconversation.com/colombia-elects-a-conservative-who-promises-to-correct-its-peace-accord-98273">“lenient” deal</a> while pledging not to “tear the agreement to shreds”.</p>
<p>After four years in charge, Duque – Colombia’s <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/26/duque-most-unpopular-colombian-president-poll">least popular president</a> in polling history – has <a href="https://www.wola.org/analysis/colombia-peace-accord-is-not-weak-its-duque-who-insists-on-weakening-it/">undermined</a> the implementation of the peace agreement, and further <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/2021/02/17/from-old-battles-to-new-challenges-in-colombia-pub-83785">polarised</a> the country and its politics. Levels of respect for human rights, security, quality of life and poverty <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2022/country-chapters/colombia">have all worsened</a> under his militaristic tenure.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466309/original/file-20220531-12-gidpl3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466309/original/file-20220531-12-gidpl3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466309/original/file-20220531-12-gidpl3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466309/original/file-20220531-12-gidpl3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466309/original/file-20220531-12-gidpl3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466309/original/file-20220531-12-gidpl3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466309/original/file-20220531-12-gidpl3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466309/original/file-20220531-12-gidpl3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Olmedo Vega: ‘I believe in the peace process because now we have the opportunity to study.’ Photo: Juan Pablo Valderrama.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Olmedo Vega, 49, has lived in Agua Bonita from its earliest foundations. When we met him, Vega was taking part in a <a href="https://kidnappingworkshop.net/caqueta/">video letter exchange project</a> with young people from Medellin, Colombia’s second-largest city. “Some of the questions from these students were really difficult to answer,” he told us. “There are a lot of stigmas and negative attitudes against us as ex-FARC members. ‘Terrorist’, ‘murderer’, ‘killer’, ‘scumbag’ … these are the words some people used to introduce me.”</p>
<p>But these days, Vega is proud to call himself a student too. One evening, during dinner, he asked us: “What did the arrival of an American astronaut on the Moon mean politically?”</p>
<p>As we fumbled for an answer, he interrupted to say: “I am studying four hours every day to get my qualifications: two hours in the morning, two in the afternoon. We are 30 comrades working so hard to sit the ICFES (Colombian A-level exams) next September. This is why I believe in the peace process, because now we have the opportunity to study. I want to be a doctor in the future, this is my dream. I want to help people, and to build a more equal society in Colombia.”</p>
<p>That evening, Vega offered us <a href="https://youtu.be/0XCMwqJ-lO0"><em>cancharina</em></a> for pudding and the sugar cane drink <a href="https://www.mycolombianrecipes.com/aguapanela-sugar-cane-drink/"><em>agua de panela</em></a>, a FARC <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-farc-ate-colombia">culinary tradition</a>. And he talked about one topic repeatedly: the murder of his best friend, Jorge Eliecer Garzón, <a href="https://www.telesurtv.net/news/asesinan-firmante-paz-colombia-20211017-0007.html">by paramilitary groups</a> in 2021.</p>
<p>“Jorge was my pal. He taught me how to be a good <em>guerrillero</em>, a good comrade. He strongly believed in the power of peace and reconciliation. I cannot understand why he was assassinated in front of his family in that bakery.”</p>
<p>Expressed as a cold statistic, Garzón was <a href="https://twitter.com/Indepaz/status/1449719441911164938/photo/1">ex-combatant no.290</a> to have been murdered since the signing of the peace agreement. The <a href="https://www.urosario.edu.co/Documentos/Facultad-de-Ciencia-Politica-Gobierno-y-Relacione/Observatorios/Crimen-organizado/DOCUMENTOS_OCCO_2_A_Criminal_Peace-18-nov-min.pdf">reasons for these killings</a> vary, from preventing the political participation of ex-FARC members to asserting control of areas for the production and international distribution of cocaine. In general, security and justice for demobilised FARC fighters has never been a priority for the Duque administration, and paramilitary groups have taken advantage of this.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/colombias-fragile-peace-deal-threatened-by-the-return-of-mass-killings-154315">Colombia's fragile peace deal threatened by the return of mass killings</a>
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<p>At one point in the evening, Vega recalled: “Jorge used to say to me: ‘You must believe in how peace can change the world. But to heal and be in peace, I do not need to forgive what these paramilitary groups have done to us. Jorge didn’t deserve to be murdered. After his killing, I was broken.”</p>
<p>Mostly, however, Vega remained conciliatory, and positive. “We are more determined than ever to comply with the peace accords – this is the reason they want to kill us. We need to defend the peace agreement. Words of reconciliation and hard work are our only weapons now. I am feeling positive. This is the best way to honour the memory of Jorge.”</p>
<h2>The spectre of political assassination</h2>
<p>Colombia’s current presidential campaign has been haunted by the spectre of <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220514-colombia-elections-the-spectre-of-political-assassination">political assassination</a>. <a href="https://colombiafocus.com/candidate-profile-gustavo-petro">Gustavo Petro</a>, the leftist former guerrilla and ex-mayor of Colombia’s capital Bogotá, had to call off public appearances after his campaign received first-hand information regarding assassination plots by paramilitary groups. His running partner, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/may/25/francia-marquez-colombia-vice-president-black-candidate?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other">Francia Márquez</a>, a black environmentalist, also received death threats.</p>
<p>Petro led the presidential election first round on May 29 with 40% of the votes. His rival in the run-off on June 19 will be <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/colombias-king-tiktok-hernandez-ready-run-off-after-shock-result-2022-05-30/">Rodolfo Hernández</a>, a businessman-politician who is viewed as a right-wing conservative and populist outsider.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466087/original/file-20220530-22-nh4943.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two political candidates on stage" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466087/original/file-20220530-22-nh4943.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466087/original/file-20220530-22-nh4943.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466087/original/file-20220530-22-nh4943.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466087/original/file-20220530-22-nh4943.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466087/original/file-20220530-22-nh4943.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466087/original/file-20220530-22-nh4943.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466087/original/file-20220530-22-nh4943.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gustavo Petro and his running partner, Francia Márquez, have both received death threats during this election campaign.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bogota-colombia-november-22-2021-gustavo-2161317985">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Colombia is the only major country in Latin America that has <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-12/colombia-election-front-runner-beefs-up-security-over-violence-threat">never had a leftist leader</a>. The country’s right-wing parties and liberal establishment appear determined to maintain this record, amid campaigns that have been regularly accused of <a href="https://www.ips-journal.eu/topics/democracy-and-society/the-race-for-colombias-next-president-5865/">racism, sexism and classism</a> against Márquez in particular.</p>
<p>Yet according to a recent <a href="https://noticias.caracoltv.com/politica/elecciones-colombia/encuesta-invamer-resultados-y-analisis-5-de-diciembre-2021">survey</a>, 79% of Colombians believe the country is on the wrong track. Political parties have a collective disapproval rate of 76%, with the Colombian Congress only marginally less unpopular.</p>
<p>The successful reintegration of thousands of ex-FARC guerrillas into civil society remains one of many daunting challenges for the next Colombian government. Reintegration problems encountered by ex-combatants worldwide have <a href="https://www.igi-global.com/book/handbook-research-transitional-justice-peace/137136">included</a> a lack of educational opportunities, the absence of suitable career options and insufficient psychological support.</p>
<p>In Colombia, we have identified <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21647259.2022.2065792">three crucial aspects</a> that are challenging successful reintegration for FARC ex-combatants: a lack of participation in the civilian economy, a lack of access to educational opportunities, and a failure by the authorities to exercise “equal citizenship” that guarantees social and civic reintegration.</p>
<p>At stake is the entire future of the peace agreement, and with it, prospects for reducing poverty, inequality and other dynamics of economic exclusion. Three generations of Colombians do not know what it means to live in a peaceful society. The reintegration of ex-combatants is crucial to building a general understanding that reconciliation is key to creating a new Colombia, where violence is not the answer to overcoming your problems.</p>
<h2>‘The stigma makes it impossible to get a job’</h2>
<p>The access road to Agua Bonita is not easy. There is no public transport, and the roads are extremely precarious. The poor transport infrastructure of Caquetá in general severely hampers the <a href="http://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/bitstream/2445/125507/1/TFM-ECO_Gonz%C3%A1lez_2018.pdf">productivity of this region</a>.</p>
<p>While the camp – which operates entirely as a cooperative – has not suffered from trade boycotts, unlike some other reintegration camps, raw materials can take months to arrive here. And the twin spectres of discrimination and unemployment loom large over residents here.</p>
<p>“I have plenty of stories of people saying to me: ‘You cannot get a job because you don’t deserve it, just get out of here,’” Vega told us. “I have to fight against this stigma every day, and it is worst when I have to apply for a job because sometimes people have the wrong idea about us. I am a proud ex-combatant that just wants the peace of Colombia and a decent job!”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466078/original/file-20220530-20-7ku22s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466078/original/file-20220530-20-7ku22s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466078/original/file-20220530-20-7ku22s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466078/original/file-20220530-20-7ku22s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466078/original/file-20220530-20-7ku22s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466078/original/file-20220530-20-7ku22s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466078/original/file-20220530-20-7ku22s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466078/original/file-20220530-20-7ku22s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Residents of Agua Bonita struggle with poor transport links and a lack of jobs. Photo: Juan Pablo Valderrama.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XxbY31Yd1g">Daniel Aldana</a> is one of the youngest ex-combatants living in Agua Bonita. He has been trying to get a job since 2019 but, due to the extent of criminalisation and stigmatisation of ex-FARC guerrillas in the region, he said it is almost impossible for him even to secure an interview.</p>
<p>“When the employers saw my identity card had been issued in La Montañita [the nearest town to Agua Bonita], they said I needed to have a ‘special selection process’. That means they will double or triple-check with the authorities if I have a police record or if my name is on a terrorist database list. If you say you are from Agua Bonita, the people say you are a terrorist. This stigma is making it impossible to get a job here.”</p>
<p>Aldana is not alone. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=havQkGEhXeM">Jorge Suarez</a>, a builder who spent more than 13 years as a FARC commander, recalled going for a job interview in Florencia. “It was so humiliating. ‘Assassin’, ‘murderer’ and ‘scumbag’ were just a few of the words the people at the recruitment agency used to refer to me. Never again.”</p>
<p>Suarez added: “The problem is that people don’t trust us. We have done everything to show that our intentions for a peaceful future are real, yet so far we are getting only two things back: no proper jobs, and tons of bullets.”</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/colombias-cash-for-kills-victims-could-number-10-000-civilians-96316">Colombia's 'cash-for-kills' victims could number 10,000 civilians</a>
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<p>Such experiences are not unique to ex-combatants living in Agua Bonita. Esteban Torres, a former guerrilla doing his reintegration in the <a href="https://www.reincorporacion.gov.co/es/reincorporacion/Paginas/ETCRs/AETCR_pondores.aspx">Pondores</a> camp (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/FARCGuajira/">ETCR Amaury Rodríguez</a>) in La Guajira, told us he had experienced the same negative reaction.</p>
<p>“In Riohacha City, when I was looking for a job, the people said to me: ‘Well, you look like a nice bloke, but you have blood on your hands. You will never have a job here because you have the blood of innocent people on your hands, and you are a terrorist – a disgrace.’”</p>
<p>Torres continued: “That is when you realise that this is a long-term process. We need a process to remove the stigma against us from Colombian people’s hearts.”</p>
<h2>Lessons from Northern Ireland</h2>
<p>As well as our interviews with former guerrilla soldiers in Colombia, we also conducted 12 in-depth conversations with ex-combatants in the conflict known as <a href="http://qpol.qub.ac.uk/can-there-be-an-official-history-of-the-troubles/">The Troubles</a>. Despite Northern Ireland’s <a href="https://education.niassembly.gov.uk/post_16/snapshots_of_devolution/gfa#:%7E:text=The%20Belfast%20Agreement%20is%20also,Northern%20Ireland%20should%20be%20governed.">peace agreement</a> having been in place for nearly a quarter of a century – and the country’s very different societal context – we found many of the raw grievances raised by ex-FARC combatants mirrored by these former political prisoners in Northern Ireland, all of whom asked to remain anonymous.</p>
<p>While we heard common themes expressed by loyalist and republican interviewees alike, we highlight some republican voices here as these ex-combatants were dedicated to a form of counter-state insurgency that resembled the aims of the FARC’s armed struggle against the Colombian state. </p>
<p>One former member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, (P)IRA, spoke about his difficulties finding meaningful employment, despite the fact that he had gained educational qualifications during his time in prison. “I could only get low-level jobs. In prison I had studied so I had qualifications, but I was still only working as a kitchen porter or doorman. </p>
<p>"No one would employ an IRA guy,” he continued. “In one job, I was asked to leave because people found out about my past. They weren’t comfortable working with me any more.”</p>
<p>Another ex-(P)IRA combatant explained the complexity of simply filling out a job application form. “A job application asks: ‘Do you have a criminal record?’ If we say ‘no’ because we claim we don’t have a criminal record – we are not criminals – then we have lied and can be dis-employed, which has happened to many people. But if we say ‘yes’, then we will not get through the vetting procedure.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-good-friday-agreement-belongs-to-the-people-not-the-politicians-94535">The Good Friday Agreement belongs to the people, not the politicians</a>
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<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21647259.2022.2065792">Our interviews</a> also highlighted a common resentment about the forms of legally structured discrimination that former combatants in Northern Ireland have experienced.</p>
<p>“We can be stopped from travelling to certain places, and certain jobs are completely off limits to us,” explained another ex-(P)IRA member. “Even our ability to spend money is restricted; we can’t purchase home insurance and car insurance. It’s an inhibitor. We can’t get business loans … It all adds up to making things more difficult for us than for everyone else.”</p>
<p>Many of our interviewees had either worked or volunteered for community-based organisations that sought to diffuse inter-community tensions in Northern Ireland, and to steer young people away from participation in violence. In general, an incredibly small number of ex-political prisoners on both sides have returned to political violence, and very few have been convicted for other forms of violent criminality. Yet despite this, the loyalist and republican ex-combatants we spoke to complained of being largely denied equality of citizenship, and still face blockages to participation in the civilian economy.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466089/original/file-20220530-22-8arffe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466089/original/file-20220530-22-8arffe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466089/original/file-20220530-22-8arffe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466089/original/file-20220530-22-8arffe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466089/original/file-20220530-22-8arffe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466089/original/file-20220530-22-8arffe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466089/original/file-20220530-22-8arffe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466089/original/file-20220530-22-8arffe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Esperanza: ‘Those of us who go to war break stereotypes set for women, so society resents us.’ Photo: Juan Pablo Valderrama.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Society resents us’</h2>
<p>More than a decade ago, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt4wNiypacE">Esperanza</a>* served as a commander and learned about equal rights as she fought side-by-side with the FARC men. But as soon as she stepped into civilian life, she told us she lost her autonomy again.</p>
<p>“Historically, this is a patriarchal culture. Those of us who go to war break traditional roles and stereotypes set for women, so society resents us. I used to give orders and command 100 armed men, and now they are expecting me to do a cooking course! What the hell?”</p>
<p>Problems highlighted by Esperanza and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcq7IKbxOsI">Tania Gomez</a>, another female ex-combatant living in Agua Bonita, include an absence of suitable career options for women, and a lack of psychological support and understanding of their needs and interests following the war. Such concerns are leading female ex-combatants to drop out of the reintegration programmes.</p>
<p>When the Colombian Reintegration Agency offered Gomez the chance to do a sewing and childcare course, she recalled saying to the official: “Are you kidding me! After 10 years of fighting against the Colombian Army every day, you want me to open a kindergarten? I didn’t join FARC to become a substitute mother, I am a revolutionary!”</p>
<p>For female ex-combatants, after long years as a fighter, the idea of “mainstream” family life can be very unappealing. “What would my life be like in the future if I follow this path?” Esperanza asked us. “Just at home with a husband, kids and playing ‘happy house’ forever? No way! I wouldn’t last a day doing that!”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466082/original/file-20220530-12-yzyr6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466082/original/file-20220530-12-yzyr6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466082/original/file-20220530-12-yzyr6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466082/original/file-20220530-12-yzyr6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466082/original/file-20220530-12-yzyr6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466082/original/file-20220530-12-yzyr6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466082/original/file-20220530-12-yzyr6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466082/original/file-20220530-12-yzyr6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tania Gomez: ‘I didn’t join FARC to become a substitute mother.’ Photo: Juan Pablo Valderrama.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The reintegration process has clearly failed to achieve genuine gender inclusiveness. When we asked <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeUS-uMXflc">Nelcy Balquiro</a> why she joined the FARC 11 years ago, she said without hesitation: “I wanted to change the world and become somebody. I wanted to be part of something important. My dream now as a civilian is to empower everyday women about their rights and fight this patriarchal system. As a female ex-FARC commander, this is now my more important <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/mar/27/feminists-farc-colombia-female-inequality">political mission</a>.”</p>
<p>Discussing the wave of violence that is killing ex-combatants, Balquiro countered immediately: “Nobody says anything about the murdered females – once again the spotlight is on men! Nobody is saying a word about Maria, Patricia, Luz and the other <a href="https://news.un.org/es/story/2022/01/1502572">10 women</a> who have been murdered [since the peace agreement] – it is shameful.”</p>
<p>Balquiro wants to fight for equal pay and the right to work outside the home. She argued that “feminism is a main part of being a female ex-combatant. We are fighting now for Colombian women to have freedom from abuse and male exploitation.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466090/original/file-20220530-24-t8etu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466090/original/file-20220530-24-t8etu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466090/original/file-20220530-24-t8etu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466090/original/file-20220530-24-t8etu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466090/original/file-20220530-24-t8etu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466090/original/file-20220530-24-t8etu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466090/original/file-20220530-24-t8etu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466090/original/file-20220530-24-t8etu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nelcy Balquiro: ‘My dream now as a civilian is to empower everyday women about their rights.’ Photo: Juan Pablo Valderrama.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘We are dreaming of peace’</h2>
<p>Colombia’s outgoing leader Iván Duque will be widely remembered as a <a href="https://www.elespectador.com/mundo/america/wola-acuerdo-de-paz-no-es-debil-es-duque-quien-insiste-en-debilitarlo/">president that did nothing</a> to implement the peace agreement. Colombia’s election now offers a critical opportunity to address the problems amplified by four years of governmental neglect and lack of political will.</p>
<p>Simón* is a FARC ex-combatant living in the <a href="https://www.reincorporacion.gov.co/es/reincorporacion/Paginas/ETCRs/AETCR_la_fila.aspx">Icononzo</a> camp (ETCR <a href="https://en-gb.facebook.com/ETCR-Antonio-Nari%C3%B1o-Icononzo-Tolima-105455094848401/?ref=page_internal">Antonio Nariño</a>) in the Andean region of Tolima. “I don’t want to live in fear for another four years,” he said. </p>
<p>“The feeling that paramilitary soldiers can kill you at any moment, working in <a href="https://www.elespectador.com/colombia-20/conflicto/militares-disfrazados-de-guerrilleros-y-otras-denuncias-en-el-operativo-militar-en-putumayo/">alliance</a> with the actual government, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/apr/13/colombia-army-raid-putumayo-investigation">like what happened in Putumayo recently</a> … it’s becoming unbearable. This presidential election is the opportunity to build new roads, new ways, and leave the torturous one that we are having now.”</p>
<p>According to Esteban Torres from the <a href="https://www.reincorporacion.gov.co/es/reincorporacion/Paginas/ETCRs/AETCR_pondores.aspx">Pondores</a> camp: “The implementation of the peace process is similar to [Colombia’s traditional festival], <a href="https://www.colombia.co/en/colombia-travel/tourism-by-regions/guide-barranquilla-carnival/#:%7E:text=Barranquilla's%20carnival%20is%20the%20biggest,colorful%20celebration%20of%20Colombian%20culture.">Barranquilla’s carnival</a>. Those who live it, enjoy it – and we want to continue the party. [Our goal] is not just to stop killing each other any more in Colombia; it is about creating a new culture of peace, a new rhythm.</p>
<p>"Duque almost killed the party. He didn’t know how to dance along with people that don’t like guns and his extreme-right perspectives. He just likes the rhythms of war. But now we have the opportunity to start tuning good vibes once again and change our future as new citizens of Colombia. My hope is to restart the party!”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466084/original/file-20220530-24-xtvg6v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466084/original/file-20220530-24-xtvg6v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466084/original/file-20220530-24-xtvg6v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466084/original/file-20220530-24-xtvg6v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466084/original/file-20220530-24-xtvg6v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466084/original/file-20220530-24-xtvg6v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466084/original/file-20220530-24-xtvg6v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466084/original/file-20220530-24-xtvg6v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Despite their struggles, the residents of Agua Bonita are still dreaming of peace. Photo: Juan Pablo Valderrama.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Over the six-decade conflict, the Colombian state helped to create and sustain an image of FARC combatants as bloodthirsty barbarians. The new government will need to take brave and imaginative steps to break down these deep-rooted conceptions. There have already been some important initiatives, such as the <a href="https://kidnappingworkshop.net/caqueta/">letter exchanges</a> between former FARC combatants and Colombian civilians. However, much more must be done if the Colombian state is to avoid the long-standing forms of discrimination still being expressed by ex-political prisoners in Northern Ireland.</p>
<p>It’s also important, in time, to remove legal barriers to equality of citizenship. Understandable measures taken in the immediate aftermath of the conflict, such as the need to carry forms of personal identification that highlight an ex-combatant’s background, need to be subject to sunset clauses – to be lifted, for example, if an individual has met certain requirements that demonstrate their dedication to peace. Similarly, criminal records directly related to participation in the conflict might also be erased once ex-combatants have demonstrated their commitment to the agreement.</p>
<p>In addition, former combatants need to feel some control over their own reintegration. Many participated in combat from a very young age, and possess few skills beyond those learned in situations of violence. Peace can be very difficult for them to navigate. This needs to be recognised and incorporated into the thinking of the Colombian peace process as it develops under the new government.</p>
<p>On the last day of our visit to Agua Bonita, we asked Olmedo Vega what his biggest wish for the future is. “From the bottom of our hearts,” he said, “it is not to leave us alone. We have suffered war, and [since then] we have grown in hope and love. We carry on our backs the historical responsibility of generating reconciliation. We are dreaming of peace.”</p>
<p><em>*Some interviewees asked only to be identified by their first names</em></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Camilo Tamayo Gomez is a senior adviser in transitional justice for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gavin Hart does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The outcome of Colombia’s presidential election has major implications for the survival of its historic peace deal, and the prospects of former combatants who have committed to a life without conflictCamilo Tamayo Gomez, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, University of HuddersfieldGavin Hart, Lecturer in Criminology, Liverpool Hope UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.