Colombia was named after Christopher Colombus, although he never set foot on its soil. It was 1499 when it was discovered that the Indians had treaures of gold and stones, and it gave way to the myth of El Dorado, a mysterious kingdom abundant in gold. The Spaniards were obsessed with the myth, although they did not find anything. The Indians were believed to have a ritual of making offerings of gold into sacred waters, but also the Spaniards found very little in the lakes.
It was in 1564 that a colony was formed, of indigenous communities, Spanish invaders and African slaves who worked the mines and plantations. It was actually during the 16th and 17th centuries that the African slaves surpassed the indigenous people in numbers.
It was 1819 that Colombia won its independence, however, due to political currents in the 19th century the country experienced 8 Civil Wars, and in 1885 alone there were more than 50 anti government insurrections. In 1899 the Liberal revolt turned into a full blown civil war, with 100,000 dead as a result.
Of course the USA became involved in 1903, taking advantage by creating an independent republic, which seems to have created relative peace until 1948 when the struggle between the Liberals and Conservatives broke out - La Violencia - with a death toll this time of 300,000. It was one of the bloodest conflicts in the western hemisphere, comparable only to the Mexican Revolution and the American Revolutionery War. In the 40s and 50s there was generations of hatred and mistrust against an opposing political party that the rapes and murders, particularly in the rural areas began. And some groups of Liberal Guerillas began to demonstrate a dangerous degree of independence.
It was 1953 when both policital parties supported a military coup to retain power and pacify the countryside. It was the only military intervention the country had experienced in the 20th century. The 2 leaders signed a pact to share power for the next 16 years, alternating the presidency every 4 years. This however repressed any political voice of the people, and there was the emergence of perhaps a dozen different guerilla groups, each with their own ideology and political and military stategy. You may have heard of FARC, ELN and M-19. The FARC was founded in 1964 as a military wing of the Communist Party, being pro Soviet. ELN was founded the following year by urban intellectuals inspired by Fidel Castros communist revolution, orginally pro-Cuban, but later became a hardline Christian Marxist group headed by former Spanish priests.
Originally supported by Moscow and Havana they both relied on extortion, robbery and kidnapping to finance their struggle. Heavily involved in drug production and trading, they have largely lost their ideological and political goals. In 2002 the USA and EU included them on their list of terrorist organisations.
Colombia is the worlds largest producer of Cocaine, controlling 80% of the global market. The 80s were the boom years led by Pablo Escobar. He was elected to congress in 1982, and by 1983 he was estimated worth was US$2 billion, making in one of the richest criminals. In the same year the government launched a campaign against the drug trade. The cartel bosses offered to pay Colombias entire foreign debt - US$13 billion. But when it was turned down a war broke out in 1989, with the cartel responding violently. While the government tried to catch an escaped Escobar, other drug cartels managed to diversify into opium, poppies and heroin.
In 1995 the cartels largely dismantled. In 1998 the Independent Conservative government gave the FARC a 42,000 sq km demilitarised zone the size of Switzerland. But when they tried to reclaim it again in 2002, the FARC was well established.
The current President Alvaro Uribe is an Independent hardliner. In 1983 his father was assassinated by the FARC, he has survived 15 assassination attempts on his own life, before his post, including 3 serious attempts during his actual presidential campaign. He is strong anti guerilla!
NOW: There is heavy military presense on the roads, with check points at least every 5 kms. A lot look quite young and they carry huge guns. The guerillas have been pushed into the deep jungle of the east. However the military are not large enough, so there is a private para-military that helps keep order. However they have been likened to the guerillas at times. We heard though that farmers are willing to give the para-military money to protect them. We did not have any problems, we did not have our bags searched at all, and our buses were only stopped on a couple of occasions to check IDs. However the military will randomly stop cars and vechiles to search and check IDs. There seems to have been big changes since the current president was elected.
