A deep influence: United States-Colombia bilateral relations and security sector reform (SSR), 1994-2002
| Autor | Javier Alberto Castrillón Riascos - René Alonso Guerra Molina |
| Cargo | MSc in Theory and History of International Relations. London School of Economics. Especialista en Política y Contexto. Fuerza Aérea Colombiana (Colombia) - Master in Unión Europea, Real Instituto de Estudios Europeos (riee) |
| Páginas | 35-54 |
35
OPERA, No 20 • Enero-Junio 2017 • pp. 35-54
Abstract
e internal conict in Colombia has
propelled the development of security sector
reform () programs; however, these pro-
grams have been usually linked to the inu-
ence of relations between the United States
and Colombia in military and foreign policy
terms. e main objective of this essay is to
understand said interplay from the mid-1990’s
to the early 2000’s, which marked the biggest
transformations to the Colombian defense
sector in human rights, doctrine, equipment,
and human capital. e analysis shows that
such inuence allowed for the consolidation
of an oensive strategy which helped the
Colombian government turn the balance of
the internal conict in its favor.
Key words: Military Forces, bilateral rela-
tions, State security, armed conict, guerrilla.
* MSc in eory and History of International Relations. London School of Economics. Especialista en Política
y Contexto. Fuerza Aérea Colombiana (Colombia). jcastrillonriascos@gmail.com
** Master in Unión Europea - Real Instituto de Estudios Europeos (). Doctorando en Ciencias Sociales de
la Universidad del Norte. Analista estratégico y asesor. Fuerza Aérea Colombiana (Colombia). reneguerramolina@
hotmail.com
Recibido: 27/06/2016/ Modicado: 07/11/2016/ Aceptado: 20/11/2016.
Para citar este artículo
Castrillón Riascos, J. A. y Guerra Molina, R. A. (2017). A deep inuence: United States-Colombia bilateral rela-
tions and security sector reform (), 1994-2002. 20, pp. 35-54.
: https://doi.org/10.18601/16578651.n20.03
A : U S-
C
(),
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J A C R*
R A G M**
36
OPERA, No 20 • Enero-Junio 2017 • pp. 35-54
Javier Alberto Castrillón Riascos, René Alonso Guerra Molina
UNA INFLUENCIA PROFUNDA:
RELACIONES BILATERALES ESTADOS
UNIDOSCOLOMBIA Y REFORMA AL
SECTOR SEGURIDAD SSR, 19942002
Resumen
El conflicto interno en Colombia ha
impulsado el desarrollo de programas de re-
forma al sector seguridad (); sin embargo,
estos han estado normalmente vinculados a
la inuencia de la relación Estados Unidos-
Colombia en términos militares y de política
exterior. El principal objetivo de este ensayo
es entender dicha interacción desde mediados
de los años noventa hasta principios del 2000,
periodo que marcó las más grandes transfor-
maciones del sector defensa colombiano en
derechos humanos, conceptos doctrinarios,
equipamiento y capital humano. El análisis
muestra que tal inuencia permitió la con-
solidación de una estrategia ofensiva, la cual
ayudó al Gobierno colombiano a inclinar el
equilibrio del conicto interno en su favor.
Palabras clave: Fuerzas Militares, relacio-
nes bilaterales, seguridad del Estado, conicto
armado, guerrilla.
INTRODUCTION
e internal conict in Colombia has
brought foreign inuence to a very complex
scenario of armed groups, war economies, and
political motivations. In order to face all the
challenges that emerged from this combina-
tion of variables, successive Colombian gov-
ernments have asked for foreign aid aimed at
enhancing its military apparatus, and the role
of the United States () has been especially
inuential in this trend. Once the Cold War
and its ideological strife concluded, issues such
as the War on Drugs and the War on Terror be-
came the bilateral agenda between both coun-
tries, replacing the discourse of communism as
the main threat to American interests in Latin
America. Such changes to the foreign policy
perspective ended up inuencing its military
aid packages directed towards client states on
the basis of new political conditions related
to liberal-democratic values which, in the
case of Colombia, served to construct a deep
Security Sector Reform () in all aspects
(political, military, doctrine, and economic).
Given this new scenario, it is necessary to
ask, how was the Colombian defense policy
re-accommodated in the 1990’s in the face of
a new set of defense interests and moral
concerns? is essay is mainly devoted toward
explaining such an important phenomenon
for the contemporary military institutions
of the Andean country by analyzing rstly,
the -Colombian military relationship in
terms of the War on Drugs (1992-1998), as
the rst step of an model and, secondly,
in regard to the War on Terror (1998-2002).
All of this will be studied before addressing
some conclusions about these two periods
in order to develop a prospective analysis in
terms of a post-conict environment.
e rst part is chiey aimed at studying
the increasing violence of the internal conict
in relation with the strengthening of guerrillas,
mainly the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia ( in Spanish), who used drug
tracking as its key nancial engine. All this
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