Fact Sheet on Colombia (February 2010)

Note:  This updated fact sheet supplements  "The almost forgotten Colombia and why it shouldn’t be that way" a speech by John Heard at the World Affairs Forum (now The Santa Fe World Affairs Forum), Santa Fe, New Mexico, September 17, 2007 

• Geography: 1.14 million square km. (440,000 square miles – twice the size of Texas).  It is bordered by five countries – Panama to the North, Venezuela and Brazil to the East, Peru and Ecuador to the South. 

• Terrain: Colombia has it all.  Two sea coasts – Pacific and Caribbean, jungles - including the Amazon in the South, three major mountain ranges – including the constantly snow capped Sierra Nevada in the North, great plains and savannas, and everything in between with climate depending on altitude.  Bogota, at approximately 8,000 feet, has spring time temperatures year round.

• Population: About 46 million, the third most populous in Latin America. There is tremendous ethnic diversity including European whites, a large mestizo population, a variety of indigenous groups, African descendents and mixtures of all the foregoing. Some 25% of the population is classified Afro-Colombian. Bogotá has an official population of well over seven million (probably much larger) and is surrounded by poverty stricken barrios and shanty towns of displaced people and the historically poor.

• Violence: Violence has been widespread in Colombia and has ebbed and flowed over the past 110 years. In a sense it is institutionalized, although the vast majority of the population prays for peace on a daily basis.  Under President Uribe’s aggressive Democratic Security Program (enhanced police and military security and more responsive Government services in the countryside), violence has diminished considerably over the past seven years, although there is currently an upsurge of guerilla activity that may be related to the upcoming general election in May of this year.

• Guerillas: The FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and the ELN (National Liberation Army) were formed in 1960s on ideological grounds – to preserve natural resources and seek justice for the poor and landless. Currently the Guerilla movements have evolved to the point where they are 95% business (the drug trade, extortion, and kidnapping) and 5% ideology. Other leftist groups have come and gone (like M-19), but the two principal groups today come to around 20,000, with the FARC by far the largest and most militant.  The FARC’s capability has been substantially degraded over the past five years thanks to Uribe’s Democratic Security Program and Plan Patriota (taking the war to where the enemy lives), and a number of high level leaders have been killed or captured, but the group has proved to be amazingly resilient, made possible by continuing income from the drug trade in amounts estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

 

• Paramililtaries:  Originally formed in the 1970s and 80s by large landowners for protection and to combat guerillas, they evolved over time into right wing militias guilty of horrendous crimes against humanity in the 1990s and early in this decade.  Starting in 2004, by agreement with the Uribe Government, some 32,000 were demobilized.  The process of reincorporating these ex-combatants into society has been slow and sporadic and only partially successful.  Fragmented, but still a force to be reckoned with, many have evolved into criminal bands and some have reconstituted to former units.  A number of the leaders have been extradited to the US for trail related to drug trafficking.  They still wield substantial illegal economic power.  As with the guerillas, many are still involved heavily in the drug trade and other illegal activity.  The bulk of the demobilized group receives Government support in the form of subsidies, training and other assistance for effective social and economic reintegration.  The process is overseen by an OAS   Monitoring Mission known as MAPP.

• President Alvaro Uribe. He was first elected in 2002.  Now late in his second term he is still extraordinarily popular. It took a constitutional amendment to allow him to run again in 2006. With post-graduate work at both Oxford and Harvard, a highly disciplined work ethic and a relentless pursuit of spiritual and physical fitness, English speaking Uribe is immensely committed to his country and tireless in his pursuit of social and economic justice and solutions for his people.  He also believes in being with the people and has held over 250 all day community councils in the countryside during his tenure, exhausting his cabinet in the process.  His principal focus from the beginning has been to end the conflict and reduce the production of illicit crops, strengthen the economy and share the benefits of growth more equitably. It is still an open question if Uribe will seek reelection again this year (May, 2010).  It will require a popular referendum in advance (scheduled for March) and a decision by the Constitutional Court.  He still retains better than 60% popularity in the poles, and it is a good bet that he will in fact be reelected. 

• Plan Colombia: The plan was proposed in 1999 under the Clinton and Andres Pastrana administrations. Now in its tenth year, it is a Comprehensive program to address the conflict, narco-terrorism and the drug production problem, the humanitarian crisis (displaced peoples), administration of justice and human rights. We are now late in Phase II of Plan Colombia, now winding down.  The plan has had strong support from both the US and Colombian Governments throughout the period – something over US $7 billion from the US, about two thirds of which has been military in nature.  Plan Colombia is being replaced this year by a National Consolidation Plan implemented by the Colombian Government designed to reestablish strong Government Presence in corridors of strategic importance relative to the conflict, illicit crop production and drug trafficking.  The objective is also to improve governance, citizen participation and address social and economic requirements of the distressed populations and regions in a comprehensive territorial development sense.  This is being supported by a new US Government Strategy known as the Colombia Strategic Development Initiative or CSDI.  Under this program a series of procurement solicitations are being issued by USAID for assistance in implementing the Government’s plan.  This also involves directly addressing the problem of drug production where the raw material is produced. 

 
• The Economy: Capitalism has taken hold well in Colombia. By all accounts, the economy today is booming despite the conflict and drugs. GDP last year was in excess of $135 billion with an annual growth rate of 7.7%.  Investment in 2009 was 25% of GDP.  Foreign investment in 2008 was $8.5 billion, up substantially from prior years.  Inflation is low, less than 5%.  The currency is strong and growing stronger against the dollar.  The Colombia Stock Market today is touted as one of the best bets in the emerging market category, although still branded as “extreme” for those with a high appetite for risk.  It has experienced spectacular growth over the past five years.  Notwithstanding these optimistic readings, Colombia is a country of economic extremes with the very rich and a growing middle class, but with the bulk of the population still mired in poverty.  Official unemployment is now running at about 11.4%, but this masks a huge problem of under-employment and destitution, especially among ethnic minorities, over three million people displaced by the conflict and other historically poor groups.  Colombia still enjoys certain trade preferences under the temporarily extended Andean Trade Preference and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA) and is committed to taking advantage of opportunities offered by globalization. A free trade agreement was negotiated and signed with the Bush Administration, but has still not been ratified by the Democratic Congress (as this is written - February 2010).  It has been help up over concern with right wing killings of union workers, although these have diminished substantially in recent years. 

• Agriculture: The sector is widely diversified including strong production in forest products (tropical hardwoods), cacao, natural rubber, oil palm, sugar, coconuts, bananas, plantains, rice, cotton, tobacco, cassava, cattle, fruits and vegetables, dairy products, and of course – coffee and flowers. Colombia is largest exporter of flowers to US and the second largest in the world after Holland. Coffee includes some of world’s finest, including specialty coffee purchased by Starbucks and other high quality buyers. In Colombia the vast majority of coffee is produced on very small farms of one to five hectares.

• Mining and Energy: Colombia has oil Reserves of 1.4 billion barrels with production estimated to exceed 700 thousand per day in 2010. Colombia is the largest producer of coal in Latin America and the World’s largest producer of emeralds. Gold, silver and platinum are also mined.

• US-Colombia Relations: Over 25,000 US citizens live in Colombia, and 250 US companies operate in the Country. There has been close cooperation over the past decade. Uribe has been consistently close with both Clinton and Bush and has a warm and growing relationship with President Obama.  He travels to Washington on multiple occasions, most recently to push for ratification of the Free Trade Agreement. Uribe has in fact been the best friend the US Government has had in Latin America for years and has consistently supported US policy initiatives.  (Colombia has the dubious distinction of being one of the few countries in the region to support the invasion of Iraq.)  In his pro-US orientation he stands alone among leftist Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia and other countries of ALBA, Hugo Chavez’s Bolivarian coalition.  He is in tune with the current US Administration on the need to fight terror at home and abroad.  President Bush and Secretary Rice both visited Colombia twice in the past few years.  Neither President Obama nor Secretary Clinton have yet to make the trip.  US assistance to  Colombia under the CSDI continues, somewhat reduced from prior years, especially on the Military side, but is expected to remain strong through 2014, especially in the form of economic assistance for territorial development and the ongoing war on drugs – on the order of some $200 million a year.

 

• U.S. Ambassador to Colombia: William Brownfield arrived in 2007.  Formerly Ambassador to Venezuela, he is an outspoken supporter of the Uribe Government and has steered his country team strongly in this direction from the beginning – some 40 US Government agencies.  The US Embassy in Colombia, one of the biggest in the world, collaborates closely with the Colombian Government on a daily basis.  It is a highly collegial relationship.  This is especially true of USAID.

 

• The Contracting Community, US NGOs and International Organizations:  The USAID program in Colombia is implemented by US firms, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and international organizations like the OAS, the UN and IOM.  The most active NGOs include the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF), Agricultural Cooperative Development International and Volunteers for Cooperative Assistance (ACDI-VOCA) and CHF Int.    These organizations receive on the average over $150 million per year to carry out alternative development activities (the war on coca), facilitate demobilization, promote policy reform, strengthen local government, reintegrate displaced people, strengthen the justice system, fight corruption, promote human and legal rights and provide humanitarian assistance to the most disadvantaged groups.

• Colombian Diaspora: Over 4 million Colombians live abroad (about one tenth of the population). At least two million are in the United States. In general, they represent a more educated and prosperous group than the average immigrant from Latin America. They send some $4.0 billion a year in remittances back to their country. Concentrations are in New York, Miami, Atlanta, and Washington D.C. A large community resides in Spain. Many of these are political refugees or have fled for their lives from the conflict, having been targeted by the left or the right.