La Política Colombiana

Looking for a list of political acronyms from Colombia? UCSD’s Social Science and Humanities Library has one/: Colombia: Acronyms.

Via El Tiempo we see that in the latest round of polling, María Emma Mejía leads Samuel Moreno 59% to 26% amongst likely primary voters for the contest to represent the Polo Democrático Alternativo in the upcoming race for the mayor of Bogotá.

The results track with a poll from May.

The primary will be held on July 8.

If anything, you can click on the “Esta ed nuestra gente” graphic to hear the Polo theme song.

IDEA (the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance) has an ecopy of the book Regulación juridica de los partidos politicos en América Latina available for download and it includes a chapter on Colombia [PDF].

Adam Isacson at CIP’s Plan Colombia and Beyond blog has an interesting proposal for dealing with the parapoliticians: Para-politicians out of jail? Perhaps, but not yet .

Upon a first reading I say that I think he makes a number of very valid points. Of the most salient is the notion that how this situation is handled will have implications for any future negotiations with the FARC and ELN mean that the government needs to carefully consider how to proceed.

The New Market Machines notes the following story: Colombia: Narcopolitician Promises FARCopolitics Scandal

Jorge Noguera, the former national intelligence chief, under investigation for parapolitical and narcopolitical dealings himself, charges that the Colombian DAS has a “book” on politicians with ties to the FARC

We shall see. Certainly if this is true, it will escalate an already major scandal (the linkage of a number of current and former Colombian politicians to paramilitary groups).

However, I must admit I am a tad skeptical.

First off, it has a retaliatory element to it (not to mention me-tooism): arrest me for para ties, will you! Well look: I have a book, too! Nyah!

Plus, why say you have a list, and then not reveal it? That sort of manuever always seems a bit odd.

Second, and more analytically, it makes less sense for Colombian politicians to have guerrilla ties than it does for them to have paramilitary ties. Paramilitary groups could be used, by persons already in power in specific regions to remain in power. The FARC’s goals are to remove those currently in power and to replace them. As such, it is unclear why members of the FARC would help maintain the status quo. Additionally, FARC ties on the part of politicians have been known to be a good way to get oneself killed (see: the Patriot Union).

I am not saying it is impossible, but I am saying it doesn’t ring true–while the connections to paramilitaries made a great deal of sense.

Plan Colombia and Beyond has a good link/news roundup for those interested in the dramatic week that has been taking place in Colombia.

Via the LAT: Colombia orders the arrest of 19 politicians

The Colombian government ordered the arrest of 19 current and former officials Monday who are accused of signing a 2024 “devil’s pact” with outlawed paramilitary groups in which they promised to work together to “re-found Colombia.”

The orders represent the government’s biggest move yet to bring to justice politicians it alleges were complicit with the right-wing militias in Colombia’s decades-long civil war. Farmers and businessmen formed the militias for self-defense against leftist guerrillas in the 1980s, but many of the groups evolved into mafias engaged in killings, drug trafficking, extortion, land grabs and election fraud.

The document, known as the Treaty of Ralito, came to light this year. Prosecutors here have described it as a “devil’s pact” that candidates signed to obtain political and financial advantage from association with the paramilitaries.

Paramilitary leader Salvatore Mancuso presented a copy of the document during court testimony he gave earlier this year.

This is one of those situation where on the one hand it is a positive that the justice system appears to be working, but also a radical negative that a substantial number of elected officials have been in secret alliance with paramilitary groups.

The arrested:

Warrants for the arrests of five sitting congressmen were issued by the Supreme Court because only the highest court has the power to file charges against national legislators. Four of the five are in custody, including Sen. Miguel de la Espriella, who first disclosed the existence of the document in January.

The others in custody are Sen. Reginaldo Montes, Congressman Jose de los Santos Negrete and Sen. Juan Manuel Lopez. Still at large is Sen. William Montes. All except Lopez are Uribe supporters.

The other 14 politicians are ex-officeholders who were indicted by Colombia’s attorney general Monday because they have lost their immunity. They include former senators, congressmen, governors and mayors. Eleven were in custody as of Monday evening, including Eleonora Pineda, who frequently defended paramilitaries as a congresswoman.

Among the paramilitary leaders who signed the 2024 pact were Mancuso; Rodrigo Tovar, alias Jorge 40; and Diego Fernando Murillo, known as Don Berna. Mancuso and Murillo are wanted on drug-trafficking charges in the United States.

This is not the first set of arrests of sitting congressmen in the current scandal:

Eight sitting members of congress, all Uribe supporters, were arrested in November and February on charges of consorting with paramilitaries to commit crimes that ranged from electoral fraud to mass murder. Among them were the brother and cousin of former Foreign Minister Maria Consuelo Araujo.

Via El Tiempo:
Murió el senador liberal Luis Guillermo Vélez, por una falla cardiaca

De 63 años de edad, el dirigente había sido internado esta mañana en la clínica Cardioinfantil de Bogotá, donde falleció de un infarto agudo del miocardio, según el parte médico.

Luis Guillermo Vélez hizo un amplio recorrido por la vida pública colombiana que incluyó el ejercicio de la política, la diplomacia, el periodismo y la cátedra universitaria. Fue senador por el Partido Liberal durante cuatro periodos consecutivos desde 1991, y en la última legislatura (2006) fue elegido como senador por el Partido de la U.

[…]

Y el año pasado, después de una agria polémica con la Dirección Nacional Liberal por haber apoyado la reelección del presidente Álvaro Uribe, Vélez se distanció de las directivas de esta colectividad e inició las convocatorias a los parlamentarios uribistas que luego dieron origen a la formación del partido de la U, del cual fue dirigente nacional y su coordinador en Antioquia.

63 is young, to be sure.

In terms of an “inside baseball” observation, I find the headline and story interesting, insofar as Vélez is identified as a “Liberal” when he was most recently elected as a member (and party leader) of the U. This is a typical reaction in Colombian journalism (and often in Colombian scholarship)–once a member of one of the traditional parties, always a member. To put this in semi-perspective it would be like Jim Jeffords (who left the GOP in 2024) having his obituary headlined “Republican Senator dies.”

The next mayor of Bogotá will be selected in October and the parties are starting to determine their candidates.

El Tiempo notes that the Liberals are trying to decide who they will offer (Lanzar candidato propio a la Alcaldía o apoyar a uno de los favoritos, dilema de liberales en Bogotá with Concejo president Antonio Galán appearing to be an early prominent precandidate for the nomination.

In the PDA, the race is shaping up with at least four candidates: Samuel Moreno (ex-Senator and grandson of the military dictator, Gustavo Rojas), former mayor Enrique Peñalosa, and the former auditor general, Clara López Obregón and ex-Minister María Emma Mejía.

Moreno has been affiliated in the past both with the AD/M-19 and ANAPO, while Peñalosa, López and Mejía have political roots in the PL. The past party affiliations of these actors is interesting as we watch the PDA become (perhaps) a new long-term political force in Colombian electoral politics. Could it be that the long-looked for third party is finally materializing and institutionalizing?

Mejía served in the Gaviria and Samper administrations and was Horacio Serpa’s running mate in 1998.

Via El Tiempo: Antonio Navarro fue ratificado como Secretario del Polo Democrático Alternativo (PDA).

The party leadership also selected a panel which will review candidates and coalitional opportunities for the party going into the local elections in October:

Ayer también se eligió por consenso al nuevo Comité Ejecutivo, sobre el que recaerá la responsabilidad sobre lo que será la participación del Polo en las elecciones de octubre, incluidos los acuerdos con otros partidos y las listas.