These resources offer information from different perspectives on some of the most important areas of the electoral context in Colombia including:

• Internal Colombian Politics,
• U.S. Colombia Policy
• Paramilitaries
• The Colombian Guerrilla
• Afro and Indigenous Colombia
• Previous Election Observation Missions.

• The Dark Force
  Semana International
  Recent investigation of the Colombian intelligence agency (DAS) reveal a strategy begun in the 1980's of aggressively monitoring and pursuing "enemies," including human rights, labor, and political leaders.
• Harassment of the Colombian Supreme Court
  Semana International
  Spying incidents and aggression against family members of Colombian Supreme Court justices is the latest in the security agency scandal.
• The Secret Dossier of the False Positives Scandal
  Semana International
  Faced with the demand for higher numbers of combatants killed in the war against the Colombian guerrilla, the Colombian military used "false positives." Over 1,000 men with no connection to armed movements were killed and framed as guerrilla combatants.
• "I handed over more than 30 young men..."
  Semana International
  This is the testimony of a man who handed over to Colombian Army members young men to be assassinated and presented as combat deaths. He is now a key witness in the false positives scandal.
• Behind the Scenes
  Semana International
  Dubious last minute vote changes that allowed passage of Uribe's third reelection referendum in the Colombian Senate recall the scandal of former senator Yidis Medina who was found guilty of selling her vote to win passage of the bill authorizing his first re-election. Opposition senators raise doubts about presidential pressure on legislators.
• Política en acción(Spanish)
  Semana
  With a year remaining before presidential elections, there is growing fear that the government program Families in Action will become a tool for presidential reelection.
• ¿Podrán unirse?(Spanish)
  Semana
  Five politicians prominent in the opposition to Álvaro Uribe's ruling coalition meet to discuss and reject the president's third reelection bid. Semana analyzes the possibility that they form an opposition coalition before the 2010 elections or in the future.
• Colombia v Ecuador
  Lina Britto, NACLA
  Ecuador and Colombia's plans to confront narcotic and paramilitary control clash along their shared border. While Colombia pushes forward a militarized anti-drug campaign in Putumayo province, Ecuador's president Correa implements a strategy focused on structural solutions to social problems.
• Testimony on Workers' Rights in Colombia in the Committee on Education and Labor of the U.S. House of Representatives
  José Luciano Sanin Vásquez, Director of the National Labor School in Colombia, testifies that murders of labor union leaders in Colombia has risen steeply from 2007 to 2008.

Compass for Colombia Policy(pdf)
Latin American Working Group, Center for International Policy, Washington Office on Latin America, U.S. Office on Colombia
A coalition of U.S. organizations offer their recommendations for U.S. policy toward Colombia. This document provides current information and a backround understanding of Colombia and the U.S.-Colombia relationship.
• Heritage Foundation Recommendations on U.S.-Colombia Policy
  Analysts at the conservative Heritage Foundation argue that the U.S. Congress should ratify the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, but that President Uribe should "beware of seeking a third term in a Latin America, where the traditional alternation of power, vital to a healthy democracy, has been shattered by Hugo Chávez and others on the left."
• U.S. Bases or Not
  John Lindsey Poland, Fellowship of Reconciliation
  There is a growing clamor in South America opposing plans for U.S. military use of bases in Colombia to carry out regional operations. The bases send a message to Colombians and others in the region that the United States will respond militarily to every problem. This is a time when Washington should invest in a paradigm shift, focusing on peace talks, not institutionalizing its relationship with the military.
• Increased U.S. Military Presence in Colombia Could Pose Problems With Neighbors
  Simon Romero, New York Times
  Tension rises between Colombia and other South American nations over U.S. use of Colombian military bases. Colombia's neighbors fear increased U.S. Colombian military coordination decreasing regional autonomy and Colombian and U.S. government sources downplay the bases' regional impact.
• S. America concerned about US military in Colombia
  Jeanneth Valdivieso, Associated Press
  South American presidents met in Argentina to discuss U.S. military bases in Colombia. They did not agree to reject U.S. use of Colombian bases but expressed suspicion of U.S. motives and concern about the regional influence of the proposed bases.

• El comienzo(Spanish)
  Verdad Abierta
  While paramilitary or self-defense groups were originally protected by law, as they developed they worked increasingly at the service of large rural land owners and narcotics traffickers with an interest in protecting their territories.
• La expansión(Spanish)
  Verdad Abierta
  After the demobilization and the peace process with the guerrilla People's Army of Liberation (EPL) and M-19 groups at the beginning of the 1990's, the paramilitaries for the first time submit to law and declare a truce. However, in the mid-1990's they will return with a more powerful and violent structure.
• Reactivación(Spanish)
  Verdad Abierta
  1997 was a key point in time for the paramilitaries. In this year, Carlos Castaño successfully integrates the different criminal groups in the country, founding the United Self-Defenses of Colombia (AUC). The founding of the AUC marks one of the bloodiest periods in Colombian history, with more than one thousand massacres, millions of people displaced by violence, alliances between paramilitaries and regional politicians, and the nationwide expansion of paramilitary power.
• La desmovilización(Spanish)
  Verdad Abierta
  When Álvaro Uribe assumed power, the demobilization and disarmament process of 34 blocks of the AUC began. The process of justice and peace was initiated to seek truth, justice, and reparation of the victims of paramilitary violence.
• Legalizing the Illegal
  Jasmin Hristov, NACLA
  While the Colombian Government assures that the paramilitaries were demobilized in 2006, paramilitary activity has changed little. In fact, crimes against humanity (assassinations and displacement) have increased, and these groups' ties to the Colombian state have strengthened. The demobilization rhetoric amounts to a façade to disguise the deep connections between the Colombian government, army, and paramilitary groups.
• Parapolitics Arrives in Washington
  Vanessa de la Torre, El Espectador
  Before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Colombian civil society and government representatives discuss paramilitary influence in Colombian national politics. Human rights defenders and social investigators point out the increasing direct paramilitary infiltration of Colombia's government while government speakers defend the official track record.

• FARC, ELN: Colombia's Left-Wing Guerrillas
  Stephanie Hanson, Council on Foreign Relations
  The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) are Colombia's two predominant rebel groups. While both have been depleted in recent years, they remain destabilizing forces.
• Criminality and Armed Groups- A Comparative Study of FARC and Paramilitary Groups in Colombia(pdf)
  Bilal Y. Saab and Alexandra W. Taylor

• Cauca
  Mario A. Murillo, NACLA
  Just after a protest of Colombian Indigenous peoples that questioned the current policies of the Colombian State, reached out to diverse sectors of Colombian Society, and called for forging a new path forward, an attack on the official vehicle of Cauca's Regional Indigenous Council left a prominent leader dead. The attack underlines the ongoing violence directed at Colombia's native peoples.
• Communiqué on Human Rights Abuses suffered by the Awá People(pdf in Spanish)
• Press Release on the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination's Evaluation of Racism in Colombia(pdf in Spanish)
• Displacement Fact Sheet(pdf)
  Fellowship of Reconciliation Colombia Program
  FOR outlines the basic facts about Colombia's internally displaced population of more than 4 million people--the largest in the world.
• The Oil Palm Industry: A Blight on Afro-Colombia(pdf)
  Garry Leech, NACLA
  The Afro-Colombian communities on Colombia's pacific coast are losing land, culture, and sovereignty to palm oil Corporations. Introduced forcefully in the 1980's palm oil cultivation is now enforced through loans that keep Afro-Colombian farmers in debt to the companies and the government.
• Letter from 142 Afro-Colombian Organizations to President Obama expressing concerns about the U.S. --Colombia Free Trade Agreement, among other issues (pdf).
• Letter from the Colombian national indigenous federation (ONIC) in opposition to the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (pdf).

• Colombian Mission of Electoral Observation (MOE)
  • 2006 Final Report of the International MOE(pdf in Spanish)
  • 2006 Final Presidential Elections Report of the National MOE (pdf in Spanish)
  • 2006 Final Legislative Elections Report of the National MOE(pdf in Spanish)
  • 2007 Final Report of the International MOE(pdf in Spanish)
  • Retos electorales, Riesgos y recomendaciones (pdf in Spanish)
  • Mapa riesgo por violencia(powerpoint)
• European Union
  • 2006 EU Colombia Elections Report(pdf)
• Organization of American States
  • 2007 Pre-Electoral Report(pdf)
  • 2007 Final Press Release(pdf)