Why Colombia Is Negotiating With Criminals

miércoles 10 de junio de 2015

Summary

The Colombian government has opened up a third line of negotiations with the various militant and criminal groups that dominate the country's interior. In addition to peace talks being held with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the smaller National Liberation Army, Bogota is embarking on negotiations with criminal factions that split off from Colombia's larger paramilitary organizations nearly a decade ago. The groups talking to the government are part of the Urabenos criminal collective — also known as Clan Usuga — and two smaller, splinter organizations.

That Bogota is engaging in such negotiations suggests that Colombian authorities are trying a more comprehensive approach to security. The success of these talks will be short-lived, however, and is unlikely to affect Colombia's role as a major cocaine producer. Still, the government's willingness to negotiate could further divide criminal organizations in Colombia, reducing the threat they pose in the process.

Analysis

It is not the first time that such groups have come to the negotiating table. A faction of the Urabenos collective led by the group's founder, Daniel Rendon Herrera, took tentative steps in 2014 to surrender to Colombian authorities. Reports emerged in April of that year that the group wanted to capitulate, and in September, Rendon released a video calling on his group to demobilize. In November, the Colombian attorney general's office announced that it would present a draft law to allow unspecified criminal groups to demobilize, but the law never materialized. In May 2015, the Colombian government appointed a representative from the attorney general's office to conduct exploratory talks with Rendon's faction. The willingness to cooperate was not limited to just Urabenos, however, as unconfirmed reports indicate that a faction of the Rastrojos criminal group was also attempting to negotiate its surrender to the government earlier this year.

The Urabenos in Context

The Urabenos, sometimes called Clan Usuga, are smaller and less centrally controlled than the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, the more politically motivated group they emerged from. The parent organization fragmented in a series of demobilizations from 2003 to 2006, culminating in Rendon's departure in 2006. Within a year, a coterie of former United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia members formed around Rendon and resumed criminal activities. The group strengthened after the Rastrojos — another remnant of the United Self-Defense Forces, and the Urabenos' closest rival — split after its top leaders were arrested in 2011 and 2012.

Until a division between Rendon and another leader, Dario Usuga, emerged in December 2014, the Urabenos were Colombia's most cohesive drug trafficking organization — other than the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. They also were involved in coca growing, extortion and illegal gold mining across the country. Unlike the major militant groups, however, the Urabenos conduct few targeted attacks against security forces and none against energy infrastructure. Currently, the Urabenos are not a single entity. They are a loose confederation of criminal groups across the country, often acting in unison, though a number of the criminal groups calling themselves Urabenos likely answer to either Rendon or Usuga.

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