Right-wing paramilitarism in Colombia
Right-wing paramility groups in Colombia
Right-wing paramilitary groups in Colombia (Spanish: paramilitares de derecha) are paramilitary groups acting in opposition to revolutionary Marxist–Leninist guerrilla forces and their allies among the civilian population. These right-wing paramilitary groups control a large majority of the illegal drug trade in Colombia of cocaine and other substances. The Colombian National Centre for Historical Memory has estimated that between 1981 and 2012, paramilitary groups have caused 38.4% of the civilian deaths, which includes massacres, such as the Mapiripán massacre, while the Guerillas are responsible for 16.8%, 10.1% by the Colombian Security Forces and 27.7% by unidentified armed groups.
The first paramilitary groups were organized by the Colombian military following recommendations made by U.S. military counterinsurgency advisers who were sent to Colombia during the Cold War to combat leftist political activists and armed guerrilla groups. The development of more modern paramilitary groups has also involved elite landowners, drug traffickers, members of the security forces, politicians, civilians, and multinational corporations, as well as training from foreign governments such as Israel. Paramilitary violence today is principally targeted towards supposed left-wing insurgents and their supporters.
History
Plan Lazo
In October 1959, the United States sent a "Special Survey Team", composed of counterinsurgency experts, to investigate Colombia's internal security situation. This was due to the increased prevalence of armed communist groups in rural Colombia which formed during and after La Violencia. In February 1962, a Fort Bragg top-level U.S. Special Warfare team, headed by Special Warfare Center commander General William P. Yarborough, visited Colombia for a second survey.
In a secret supplement to his report to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Yarborough encouraged the creation and deployment of a paramilitary force to commit sabotage and terrorist acts against communists:
A concerted country team effort should be made now to select civilian and military personnel for clandestine training in resistance operations in case they are needed later.
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