Criminality and Armed Groups: A Comparative Study of FARC and Paramilitary Groups in Colombia

Moral Disengagement Mechanisms and Armed Violence. A Comparative Study of Paramilitaries and Guerrillas in Colombia

“…The means, on the other hand, were the same for both groups, requiring, therefore, similar justifications. As both groups participated in drug trafficking and terrorism (Feldmann & Hinojosa, 2009;Saab & Taylor, 2009), their similar actions required similar justifications. According to Borja et al (2008) the justificatory dynamics and categories are the same for both groups, in spite of sociopolitical differences.…”

“…Their goal was to take power and change the structure of the state to bring about a fairer income distribution (Ferro & Uribe, 2002). Over the years, the farc's ideological, political and military position weakened, due to increasing international rejection of violence and terrorism, their engagement in drug-trafficking (Saab & Taylor, 2009), kidnapping and child recruitment, as well as the action of the armed forces and the massive desertion of combatants. This group signed a peace agreement with the Colombian government in 2016, after four years of negotiation.…”

“…auc was comprised of ex-members of the Armed Forces, former common delinquents (Gutiérrez, 2008), security personnel of extinct drug cartels, small or medium sized drug barons and some regional elites of landowners (Saab & Taylor, 2009). auc adopted a national political discourse of counterinsurgency and protection of the status quo (Duncan, 2006;Pizarro, 2004), but in fact, they were "local responses to the guerrillas" (pnud, 2003. p. 29).…”

The Unlawful Society

“…93-94;Chernick, 2005, pp. 190-192;Reid, 2007, p. 259;Saab and Taylor, 2009;Purdue, 2012, pp. 147-208).…”

The War on Drugs in Colombia: The Environment, the Treadmill of Destruction and Risk-Transfer Militarism

“…While the specificity of Colombia's history shaped this transformation, it is also characteristic of the "new" wars of recent decades (see Table 1). FARC and other left-leaning guerrilla forces taxed drug organizations in the regions under their control and used the funds to finance military and political activities (Peceny and Durnan 2006;Saab and Taylor 2009;Holmes et al 2008;Stokes 2001Stokes , 2005. Even as FARC became directly involved in coca cultivation and cocaine manufacture, it attempted to preserve its political objectives "by manipulating the conventional coca industry in the hopes of strengthening sociopolitical and economic conditions for the marginalized" (Brittain 2010: 89).…”