Marifeli Perez-Stable

Published in The Miami Herald
January 3, 2008

Colombia is often in the headlines. As I write, three hostages — two women and the 4-year-old boy born in captivity to one of them — still await their freedom. For a long time, we all feared the worst for Ingrid Betancourt, the former presidential candidate kidnapped nearly six years ago, as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) held back proof of life. On Nov. 30, the FARC finally relented.

Plan Colombia — an initiative launched in 1999 by then-President Andrés Pastrana and joined in 2000 by United States — and President Alvaro Uribe’s policy of Democratic Security have pulled Colombia from a vicious cycle of violence and diminished state authority. Since 1999, for example, homicides have declined by 40 percent and kidnappings by 80 percent. Today, the state is present in all of Colombia’s 1,099 municipalities; in 1999, it was absent in 30 percent.

`Back from the Brink’

Last November, the Center for Strategic and International Studies issued ”Back from the Brink: Evaluating Progress in Colombia, 1999-2007,” a timely report that should be acknowledged by the ongoing debate in the U.S. Congress on Plan Colombia and the U.S.Colombia Free Trade Agreement. It’s always best to argue from facts, which Back from the Brink provides aplenty (http://www.csis.orgcolombiareport/).

There’s no escaping the report’s conclusion that Colombia has made impressive progress in bolstering the state’s authority, strengthening the rule of law, expanding the numbers and quality of the armed forces, demobilizing the paramilitaries, rolling back the FARC and, yes, improving human rights.

Violence against trade unionists has been a rightful concern of congressional Democrats. Back from the Brink and a recent finding by the International Labor Organization should partly assuage their criticisms. Between 2001 and 2007, assassination of trade unionists went from 205 to 24 per year, a decline commensurate with the overall murder reduction. The attorney general created a special unit of three judges to deal exclusively with trade-union homicides and combat impunity.

Under the Uribe administration, improved security has brought better governance.

• In 1999, nearly two thirds of Colombians thought the FARC would topple the government. Today less than 20 percent do.

• In 2006, Colombia ranked second in Latin America in the overall confidence of citizens in government institutions.

• The judicial system is more effectively tending to the legal needs of ordinary Colombians.

• In 1999, Transparency International listed Colombia at 2.9 in an ascending scale of corruption (1-10). In 2006, the country registered 3.9, fifth-best in Latin America.

• Colombian courts are proving their mettle in the parapolitics scandal, legislators and high-ranking government officials who have been indicted for past ties to the paramilitaries.

Good policymaking, a more secure environment and high commodity prices also have put Colombia on a track of sustainable growth, poverty reduction and lower unemployment. In 2006, the economy grew 6.8 percent, the highest rate in 28 years. Between 1999 and 2006, inflation fell from 16.7 percent to 4.5 percent while unemployment declined from 18 percent to 12 percent. In June 2007, Standard & Poor’s graded Colombia on a par with Mexico and Chile, which augurs well for confidence and investment.

Still much to be done

Less well known is Colombia’s record on social issues. A 2007 World Bank report puts social spending at 40 percent of the national budget. In 2006, funding for social programs outpaced defense spending three to one. Though still high, poverty has declined from 55 percent in 1999 to 45 percent in 2006. Government programs like Familias en Acción have greatly increased food consumption among the poor, expanded school attendance and lowered the rates of child labor.

Having made impressive progress doesn’t mean there’s still isn’t much more to be done. Rural Colombia, where citizens of African and indigenous descent disproportionately live, suffers most from poverty and violence. In 2006, about 200,000 people were displaced from their communities. State authority has yet to be exercised effectively in many areas. Inequality is still among the highest in Latin America.

Peace, unfortunately, is not at hand. Colombia is, nonetheless, living more in peace — and benefiting from its dividends — than anyone thought possible at the end of the 1990s.