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Story Publication logo July 13, 2007

Contemporary Colombia

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Colombia
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English

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Beyond the Law: Colombia's Embrace of Paramilitary Power

Journalist Phillip Robertson and videographer Carlos Villalon investigate the controversies swirling...

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Putumayo's cocaine. Carlos David Hernandez, 14, stands on a coca plants field that is growing back after being fumigated with glyphosate, El Oasis hamlet, Putumayo, Colombia, February 8, 2006. Most farmers in the region agree that they prefer not to grow coca plants for a living, but all disagree with the government policies and its methods.
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, commander in chief, Manuel Marulanda, AKA ' Tiro Fijo,' talk to the press during peace dialogues, San Vicente del Caguan, Colombia, 2001. The FARC asked Andres Pastrana's government to demobilize all paramilitary groups before peace negotiations will go into the next step, disarmament. The peace dialogues collapsed on February 2002. (File photo)
A student demonstrator runs from a police officer during a university demonstration in front of the congress building downtown. The demonstrations are against government attempts to reallocate public education funds, the Free Trade Agreement with the U.S. and accusations against the government of Alvaro Uribe for having ties with paramilitary groups. (File Photo).
Adolfo Paz, AKA ' Don Berna,' in Santa Fe de Ralito, Colombia, December 1, 2004. Don Berna was one of the PEPES, an organization created between paramilitaries and other drug traffickers to capture and kill Pablo Escobar. He then became the head of ' La Terraza' a criminal organization that worked along with the notorious Cali Drug cartel. Today, ' Don Berna' belongs to the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia, AUC, the paramilitary group currently in peace negotiations with the government.
Alvaro Uribe (center) and his choice for vice president, Francisco Santos (left), celebrate their electoral victory at the Dan Carlton hotel in Bogotá, Colombia, May 26, 2002. Mr. Uribe, a former liberal, won the Colombian presidential elections with 53% of the vote and was appointed president on August 7th. He has promised to fight leftist guerrillas and bring the country to peace and out of poverty. (File Photo)
Senator Gustavo Petro during a meeting of teachers and students protesting against the shortage of funds for public education and the Free Trade Agreement between the US and Colombia, Bogota, May 23, 2007. Several public universities and schools remain closed since mid-May in a protest organized by the biggest union in the country, the teachers’ union. Gustavo Petro is one of the most outspoken opposition leaders against Alvaro Uribe's government and its ties with paramilitary groups.
Students in a rural school near the town of Llorente, Colombia, July 10, 2007. Lack of education and public funds have created a wave of protests along with school and university closures this year.
Cocaine Mom. Police officers parading Mrs. Myriam Lorena Conde accused of sending her five-year-old daughter to the U.S.A. alone with five kilograms of cocaine. Bogotá, Colombia, April 30, 2002. Police said the woman was arrested in 1996 at Miami airport and charged with smuggling 750 grams of heroin on her shoes. (File Photo).
A child at home in the town of Apartado, Colombia, June 28, 2007.
The Uraba Gulf at dusk, Colombia, June 18, 2007. The gulf is today one of the biggest drug corridors in the country with speed boats and cargo ships loaded with cocaine on its way to Europe, Central America and the U.S.A.

Combining the themes of paramilitary violence, drugs, and politics, these photos offer a glimpse into contemporary life in Colombia.

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