DOMINANT CLASS REACTIONISM
133
90 80 State forces
70 60 50 40
Paramilitaries
30 20
Guerrillas
2007
2003
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
0
1995
10 1993
Percentage of voilations against non-combatants and those responsible
100
Figure 6.1 A re-examination of groups responsible for human rights violations against non-combatants in Colombia Sources: Coalición Colombiana Contra la Tortura, 2008: 8; Gareau, 2004: 214; Murillo and Avirama, 2004: 89, 185–6; NUPGE, 2004: 2; HURIDOCS, 2003; Stokes, 2003a: 11; 2003b; Valenzuela, 2002: 10; Comisión Colombiana de Juristas, 2001. Data for between 2003 and 2006 has been very difficult to obtain, possibly because of the attempt to make the AUC/state negotiations (2003–06) appear effective.
of the paramilitary have been identified in the past few years alone (Haugaard et al, 2008: 11). The “guerrillas” were responsible for only 5–10 percent of all violations, while the combined state/paramilitary forces were responsible for approximately 90–95 percent.38 From these figures the insurgents’ human rights record has actually improved over the past decade. This is not to argue that the insurgents have not committed human rights abuses: they have, but the trend has generally improved since 1995. Second, the level of abuse at the hands of the state is directly related to the legitimate installation of the paramilitary via Decrees 2535 and 356 (1993), especially since the formal creation of the AUC (in 1997). As the figure demonstrates, there was an immediate and precipitous decrease in violations by state security forces, which correlates with the paramilitary’s maturity. Pearce has supported this assessment and the “miraculous” shift in the state’s proportion of responsibility of violations toward non-combatants. The Colombian army has a long history of human rights abuse. It was deemed responsible in 1993 for 54 per cent of political killings in Colombia according to the US State Department annual report on human rights in Colombia. Over the next few years its record apparently improved and by
