When Colombian President Andres Pastrana ceded a Switzerland-sized patch of jungle and savannah to the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), he was merely recognizing the obvious.  Much of rural Colombia has been controlled by Maoist rebels for decades. Colombia has seen violence between landowners and peasants since the 1920s. By 1950 the struggles had reached fever pitch, beginning a period which Colombians call La Violencia – a period which continues to this day.  By 1964 a collection of scattered peasant groups had formed together into today’s FARC; by 1970 there were several other Marxist-Leninist-Maoist groups, most of whom spent at least as much time squabbling amongst themselves as fighting the government.

According to the Conventional Wisdom, FARC and the Marxist guerillas fund their war via the cocaine trade. This is probably true; on the other hand, much of Colombia’s economy is funded via the cocaine trade. By some estimates, as many as 300,000 Colombians are directly involved in the production and sale of cocaine; it’s difficult to estimate how many others benefit indirectly from cocaine money.  U.S. eradication efforts have led to widespread unemployment in some former coca-producing areas: many of these unemployed youths wind up pursuing other career opportunities with Marxist and Maoist rebels. 

If the cocaine trade can’t produce enough money, there’s always another time-honored way of redistributing the wealth: kidnapping. Colombia has one of the highest kidnapping rates in the world.  FARC and other Marxist guerillas frequently take wealthy Colombians or foreign businessmen hostage, releasing them for large ransoms.  Last year there were over 3,700 kidnappings in Colombia; what was once a problem for the very rich has now become a real concern for merely affluent Colombians.   In response, many wealthy Colombians have funded paramilitary “death squads.”  Many of these paramilitaries have been responsible for some of the worst atrocities in this long-running war.  More disturbing is the way that these paramilitaries have been used by multinational corporations for “union-busting.” Union representatives at Coca-Cola plants throughout Colombia were beaten and murdered by paramilitary thugs; the International Labor Rights Fund has brought suit against Coca-Cola; the company continues to deny all involvement in the killings and abuses.     

Things in Colombia are bad and not likely to get better soon.  The cocaine trade remains lucrative and shows no signs of stopping.  A GAO audit in the early 90s noted that most U.S. “drug war” aid went not to Colombian police but rather to the Colombian military.  FARC, ELN and other Colombian Marxist and Maoist organizations show no signs of weakening as the struggle continues.  Perhaps only in Nepal are Maoist rebels so close to taking over a country: if the Argentine debt crisis spreads throughout South America, it could very well spell the end of an already fragile government and the rise of another Latin American Socialist State.