Armed Actors: Organised Violence and State Failure in Latin America

225 Pages·2005·1.32 MB·English

by  Kees Koonings

About the editors
Kees Koonings is Associate Professor of Development Studies
in the Faculty of Social Sciences, Utrecht University. He is the
author of books and articles on development issues, ethni-
city, and militarism and violence in Latin America.
Dirk Kruijt is Professor of Development Studies in the Faculty
of Social Sciences, Utrecht University. He has published on
poverty and the informal sector, military governments, and
issues of war and peace in Latin America.
They are Coeditors of two previous Zed Books titles:
Societies of Fear: The Legacy of Civil War, Violence and Terror
in Latin America (1999)
Political Armies: The Military and Nation Building in the Age
of Democracy (2002)

kees koonings & dirk kruijt | editors
Armed actors
Organized violence and state failure in
Latin America
Z
Zed Books
london | new york
Armed actors: organized violence and state failure in Latin America was
first published by Zed Books Ltd, 7 Cynthia Street, London n1 9jf, uk
and Room 400, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, ny 10010, usa in 2004.
www.zedbooks.co.uk
Editorial copyright © Kees Koonings and Dirk Kruijt, 2004
Individual chapters © individual contributors, 2004
The rights of the editor and contributors to be identified as the authors
of this work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
Cover designed by Andrew Corbett
Set in ff Arnhem and Futura Bold by Ewan Smith, London
Index: [email protected]
Printed and bound in Malta by Gutenberg Press Ltd
Distributed in the usa exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of
St Martin’s Press, llc, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, ny 10010.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
us cip data are available from the Library of Congress.
All rights reserved
isbn 1 84277 444 1 cased
isbn 1 84277 445 x limp
Contents
Abbreviations | viii Acknowledgements | x
Introduction 1
kees koonings and dirk kruijt
1 Armed actors, organized violence and state failure in Latin
America: a survey of issues and arguments 5
kees koonings and dirk kruijt
Democracy and violence | 5 State failure, uncivil society and ‘new
violence’ | 7 The proliferation of armed actors | 9 Armed actors and
violence: social and political consequences | 13
2 The military and their shadowy brothers-in-arms 16
dirk kruijt and kees koonings
Political armies: officers and gentlemen? | 16 Intelligence: secrecy,
impunity and action | 19 Paramilitary forces | 25 Conclusion | 30
3 Policing extensions in Latin America 33
piet van reenen
Introduction | 33 The nature of ‘policing extensions’ | 34 Latin
American policing extensions: basic pattern and diversity | 35
Brazil: simple patterns | 38 Guatemala: complexity | 43
Final observations: the threat of repoliticization | 48
4 Civil defence forces: Peru’s Comités de Autodefensa Civil and
Guatemala’s Patrullas de Autodefensa Civil in comparative
perspective 52
mario fumerton and simone remijnse
Introduction | 52 The genesis of civil defence patrols in Peru and
Guatemala | 53 State counter-insurgency and civil defence in Peru
and Guatemala | 56 The civil defence patrols and the rule of law | 61
The civil defence patrols and civil society | 63 The civil defence patrols
and the construction of citizenship | 66 The social legacy of civil
defence patrols in Peru and Guatemala | 68
5 Violence as market strategy in drug trafficking: the
Andean experience 73
menno vellinga
v
Introduction | 73 The cocaine industry: production and traf-
ficking | 74 The growth of the drug industry: major conditioning
factors | 75 The industry and its entrepreneurs | 78 Business
practices in the drug industry | 82 Conclusions | 84
6 Armed actors in the Colombian conflict 87
francisco leal buitrago
Deficient political administration, guerrilla consolidation, and the
rise of the paramilitaries, 1958–90 | 87 The failure of the civil control
of military policy and the strengthening of armed actors, 1990–98 | 92
Plan Colombia and the escalation of the war, 1998–2003 | 99
Conclusion | 103
7 Venezuela: the remilitarization of politics 106
harold a. trinkunas
The role of the military in the Punto Fijo democracy | 108 The erosion
of civilian control of the armed forces in Venezuela | 110 The 11 April
2002 coup attempt | 112 The December 2002 general strike and
beyond | 118 The growth of civilian organized violence during the
Chávez administration | 120 The effects of organized violence on
Venezuelan society | 122 Conclusions: explaining the remilitarization
of politics | 125
8 A failed state facing new criminal problems: the case of
Argentina 127
marcelo sain
Democratization and new forms of violence | 127 The new criminal
problems in Argentina | 130 Political misgovernment, deficient
policing and social insecurity | 135
9 Urban violence and drug warfare in Brazil 139
alba zaluar
Introduction | 139 A brief history of social and institutional violence
in Brazil | 140 Urban violence, crime and drugs | 141 Explaining the
paradox of violence | 143 Drug trafficking in Rio de Janeiro | 146
The warrior ethos and warfare | 149 Conclusion | 153
10 Youth gangs, social exclusion and the transformation of
violence in El Salvador 155
wim savenije and chris van der borgh
Statistics on violence and homicides | 156 The depoliticization of
violence in El Salvador | 157 Explaining the transformation of violence
in El Salvador | 159 Structural, political and symbolic violence | 160
vi
Violence in marginalized neighbourhoods in San Salvador | 161
The mara phenomenon | 165 Conclusion | 169
11 Violence and fear in Colombia: fragmentation of space,
contraction of time and forms of evasion 172
luis alberto restrepo
Violence and fear in Colombia | 172 Social distribution of the
violence | 174 Fear and its impact | 179 Forms of flight | 182
12 Epilogue: violence and the quest for order in contemporary
Latin America 186
patricio silva
About the contributors | 192
Bibliography | 194
Index | 211
vii
Abbreviations
ABIN Agencia Brasileira de Inteligencia (Brazilian Intelligence Agency)
ACCU Autodefensas Campesinas de Cordoba y Urabá (Self-Defence Forces
of Cordoba and Urabá)
ARENA Alianza Republicana Nacional (National Republican Alliance)
AUC Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (United Self-Defence Forces of
Colombia)
CAD Comité de Autodefensa y Desarrollo (Committee of Self-Defence and
Development)
CADEG Consejo Anticomunista de Guatemala (Anti-Communist Council of
Guatemala)
CDC Comités de Defensa Civil (Civil Defence Committees)
CGT Confederación General de Trabajadores (General Confederation of
Workers)
CNE Consejo Nacional Electoral (National Electoral Council)
COFAVIC Comité de Familiares de Víctimas de 27 de Febrero (Committee of
the Relatives of the Victims of 27 February)
CRAG Comité de Resistencia Anticomunista de Guatemala (Committee of
Anti-Communist Resistance of Guatemala)
CRS Corriente de Renovación Socialista (Socialist Renovation Current)
CUFAN Comando Unificado de la Fuerza Armada Nacional (Unified
Command of the National Armed Forces)
CVDC Comités Voluntarios de Defensa Civil (Voluntary Civil Defence
Committees)
DECAS Defensa Civil Antisubversiva (Anti-Subversive Civil Defence)
ELN Ejército de Liberación Nacional (Army of National Liberation)
EMDN Estado Mayor de la Defensa Nacional (National Defence Staff)
EPL Ejército Popular de Liberación (Popular Liberation Army)
ESA Ejército Secreto Anticomunista (Secret Anti-Communist Army)
FADA Fuerza de Acción Armada (Armed Action Force)
FAFERJ Federação de Favelas do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Federation of
Favelas of the State of Rio de Janeiro)
FANO Frente Anticomunista del Nororiente (Anti-Communist Front of the
North-East)
FARC Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Armed
Revolutionary Forces of Colombia)
FEA Frente Estudiantil Anticomunista (Student’s Anti-communist Front)
FEDECAMARAS Federación Venezolano de Cámaras y Asociaciones de Comercio
viii
y Producción (National Federation of Chambers of Commerce and
Industry)
FGR Fiscalía General de la República (Public Prosecutor’s Office)
FMLN Frente Farabundo Marti de Liberación Nacional (Farabundo Marti
National Liberation Front)
FRG Frente Republicano Guatemalteco (Guatemalan Republican Front)
GALGAS Guerrilla Acción Libertadora Guatemalteca Antisalvadoreña
(Guatemalan Anti-Salvadoran Liberating Guerrilla Action)
IML Instituto de Medicina Legal (Institute of Forensic Medicine)
IUDOP Instituto Universitario de Opinión Publica (University Institute of
Public Opinion)
MANO Movimiento de Acción Nacionalista Organizada (Movement of
Organized Nationalist Action)
MAS Muerte a los Secuestradores (Death to Kidnappers)
MINUGUA Misión de las Naciones Unidas para Guatemala (United National
Mission for Guatemala)
MP/PP Milicias Populares del Pueblo y para el Pueblo (Popular Militias of
the People and for the People)
MP/VA Milicias Populares Valle de Aburrú (Popular Militias of the Valle de
Aburrú)
MRTA Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amatu (Revolutionary Movement
Tupac Amaru)
OPS Organización Panamericana de Salúd (Pan-American Health
Organization)
PAC Patrullas de Autodefensa Civil (Civil Defence Patrols)
PDVSA Petroleos de Venezuela SA (Venezuelan Petroleum SA)
PMA Policía Militar Ambulante (Mobile Military Police)
PNC Policía Nacional Civil (National Civil Police)
PRI Partido Revolucionario Institucional (Institutional Revolutionary
Party)
PRN Proceso de Reorganización Nacional (Process of National
Reorganization)
PROVEA Programa Venezolano de Educación-Acción en Derechos Humanos
(Venezuelan Programme of Action-Education in Human Rights)
PRT Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores (Revolutionary Workers
Party)
SIC Servicio de Investigación Criminal (Criminal Investigative Service)
SIN Sistema de Inteligencia Nacional (System of National Intelligence)
A
SNI Serviço Nacional de Informações (System of National Intelligence) b
b
r
UP Unión Patriótica (Patriotic Union) e
v
ia
t
io
n
s
ix