ABSTRACT
Colombia’s internal armed conflict has been ongoing for nearly 60 years with an evolving landscape of actors and dynamics. With support from the United States military through Plan Colombia, the Colombian armed forces considerably increased their strength and capabilities, halting the territorial expansion of criminal groups, which by 2002 had an important presence in nearly half of the country. In August 2022, Gustavo Petro, a former member of the demobilised April 19th Movement guerrilla, was inaugurated as Colombia’s first leftist president and embarked on his ambitious ‘total peace’ policy, seeking simultaneous peace negotiations with all active criminal groups. The growing levels of coca-crop and cocaine production, and the profits stemming from drug trafficking, represent a major economic disincentive for criminal groups to hand over their arms.
