By Jorge Mantilla

In this working paper, Jorge Mantilla explores state-criminal cooperation in roadblock politics. His study discusses the way in which, between 2015 and 2023, the bilateral tensions and border closure between Colombia and Venezuela created a political economy of smuggling in which state officials delegated basic state functions to organized crime groups to contain foes, domesticate illegal economies, and maintain social control. Mantilla shows that the fundamentals of this political economy are negotiated mobility instances taking place at checkpoints deployed in the multiple informal trails along the borderland where smugglers, organized crime groups, and state officials interact.

 Copenhagen: DIIS · Danish Institute for International Studies 2024. 31p.

By Unidad de investigación de Venezuela

For twenty years, Venezuela was a refuge for Colombia’s Marxist guerrillas, a place where they could hide out from the military, run criminal economies, and carry out political work with impunity thanks to their friendly relationship with the government of President Hugo Chávez. But today, it is so much more. Guerrillas such as the ELN have spread deep into Venezuelan territory, they are filling their ranks with recruits, taking control of communities, and interfering in politics. Today, they are binational guerrilla groups. The product of five years of fieldwork along the Colombia-Venezuela border and beyond, this investigation reveals the Venezuelan operations of Colombia’s guerrillas and explores the far-reaching implications for both countries of their evolution into Colombo-Venezuelan groups.

Washington, DC: Insight Crime, 2022. 53p.

By Unidad de investigación de Venezuela

For twenty years, Venezuela was a refuge for Colombia’s Marxist guerrillas, a place where they could hide out from the military, run criminal economies, and carry out political work with impunity thanks to their friendly relationship with the government of President Hugo Chávez. But today, it is so much more. Guerrillas such as the ELN have spread deep into Venezuelan territory, they are filling their ranks with recruits, taking control of communities, and interfering in politics. Today, they are binational guerrilla groups. The product of five years of fieldwork along the Colombia-Venezuela border and beyond, this investigation reveals the Venezuelan operations of Colombia’s guerrillas and explores the far-reaching implications for both countries of their evolution into Colombo-Venezuelan groups.

Washington, DC: InsightCrime, 2022. 53p.

Read/Download

By United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

What is the relationship between violence, crime and arms trafficking in Colombia? This report aims to answer this question and provide an assessment of the arms situation in Colombia. The document provides an overview of violence with firearms in Colombia, the main violence-generating factors in the country, and the relationship between firearms and the different forms of violence. The author further examines the dynamics of the manufacturing, trafficking, illegal possession and carrying of small arms and light weapons, as well as the contraband routes, the groups involved, and the principal suppliers. Chapters of the book also consider different aspects of the institutional handling of firearms in Colombia and the different disarmament experiences that have taken place in the country, such as the disarmament experiences of rebel groups and those carried out voluntarily.

The document concludes by analysing the commitments, actions, and positions assumed by Colombia with respect to the different protocols, conventions, and cooperation agreements on small arms and light weapons. In this respect, the authors highlight the leadership and permanent initiative that Colombia has displayed in the international field, by promoting the signature and adoption of different instruments aimed at reducing illegal trafficking and strengthening controls of legal arms transfers at the international level. With the exception of the weak penalization for the illegal carrying of arms, the authors argue that Colombia has tried to adapt its internal legislation to international requirements and standards.

Bogota: UNODC, 2006. 127p.

By Kim Cragin and Bruce Hoffman

This report provides an analysis of black-market and gray-market sources of small arms, explosives, equipment, and material that are available to terrorist and insurgent organizations in Columbia with particular attention given to the sources and methods used by covert and/or illegal suppliers and purchasers to acquire, sell, buy, transfer, ship, and receive these items.

The extent and type of weaponry currently available to terrorists, insurgents, and other criminals are enormous. These groups have exploited and developed local, regional, and global supply channels to traffic in munitions and equipment worldwide. In the country of Columbia, the drug trade, a protracted insurgent conflict, nationwide corruption, and small arms proliferation have contributed to the political instability and violence in the country over the past century with small arms proliferation among the most serious of the problems.

Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2003. 208p.

By David Spencer

The intent of this monograph was to explore the multiple dimensions of Colombia's ongoing crisis and inform the public debate regarding the challenges faced by the statesmen, intellectuals, military strategists, and others who take on the responsibility to deal with that crisis. Hopefully, it will also generate serious reflection about the tough choices Colombian, U.S., and other global leaders face. The author points out, first, that the Colombian paramilitary self-defense forces represent some important sectors of society, and enjoy more popular support from Colombian society than the insurgents. Second, the paramilitaries have developed into a powerful irregular force that is proving itself capable of challenging Colombian guerrillas. Third, while they commit horrendous atrocities, they have been successful where the state has not. Therefore, the paramilitaries are seen by many as a viable solution to the conflict. Finally, he argues that, until the segments of the society represented by the paramilitaries are--somehow-- incorporated into the solution to the Colombian crisis, there will be no solution.

Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College Press, 2001. 32p.