ABSTRACT
Colombia's experience with tough-on-crime policies defies easy narratives. Several key strands, trends, and outcomes do stand out, however. This chapter briefly discuss eight of them, all of which carry lessons for struggles to protect citizens from violence throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Democratic Security was popular, associated with the populist figure of Uribe, who held long weekly televised security meetings throughout the country and was known for jumping down the chain of command to harangue military commanders on their mobile phones at all hours. Like criminal groups, the FARC engaged in drug trafficking, illicit mining, ransom kidnapping, and extortion. The FARC's 2017 demobilization offered Colombia an opportunity to ease away from its armed conflict-based security strategy, which overwhelmingly invests in the security and intelligence forces, and build a more comprehensive, balanced security sector. Colombia's armed conflict and its struggles with organized crime have been largely rural.
