Welcome to the Jungle - Counterinsurgency Lessons from Colombia - A Contemporary Battlefield Assessment

Increased pressure against the FARC, to include the killing of several FARC leaders helped bring the FARC to the negotiating table and provided the government the upper hand. [...] The lack of state control in Colombia’s rural area provided the FARC an option to cover the financial gap that resulted from the termination of support from the Soviet Union following the end of the Cold War. [...] Kaplan examines the presence of “peace communities” as a template for how the war came to a conclusion in some local areas, pointing to the civilian autonomy and nonviolent strategies of Colombians to create pockets of peace, which were respected both by the military and the guerrilla groups.84 He notes that similar communities existed in Dagestan, Russia, during the height of the fighting there. [...] The long-term goals of Plan Colombia were to provide greater security in contested areas or zones with a greater guerrilla presence, combat the illicit economy that fuels the rebellion and violence, increase the size and capability of the Colombian police and military, and expand the presence of the government outside of the main three cities (Bogotá, Medellín, and Cartagena)—all of which allowed. [...] And we train for specific capabilities.”107 Global War on Terrorism In 1997, the FARC was placed on the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations.108 The global war on terrorism that followed the attacks of 9/11, while distracting the Bush administration from the Latin American region, led to the provision of greater resources for the Colombian government.