From spoilers to builders: collective reintegration, leadership, and peace in Colombia

ABSTRACT

What explains the divergent strategies of middle commanders after negotiated peace? After Colombia’s peace process with the insurgent group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, former FARC midlevel commanders deployed a variety of strategies, from leading reintegration projects to build peace, to rearming splinter groups to spoil peace. Most other studies approach leading and spoiling separately, thus failing to account for both outcomes. Responding to this limitation, this article proposes an integrated theory explaining middle commander strategies after armed conflict. It argues that former commanders seek to maximise personal security and influence, and they choose strategies that respond to variations in local security and community embeddedness. Former commanders in secure areas with community embeddedness will build peace, while former commanders in dangerous areas with community embeddedness will spoil peace. This argument is evaluated with a qualitative analysis using primary data collected during field work in Colombia, including 59 interviews with former FARC members.

KEYWORDS:

• DDR
• FARC
• collective reintegration
• peacebuilding
• Colombia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Themnér, Violence in Post-conflict Societies; Daly, Organized Violence; Guáqueta, ‘The Way Back in’; Hauge and Thoresen, ‘The Fate of Former Combatants’; Shesterinina, ‘Committed to Peace’; De Vries and Wiegink, ‘Breaking up and Going Home?’; Sharif, ‘Can the Rebel Body Function’.

2. Stedman, ‘Spoiler Problems’; Mehlum et al, ‘Plunder and Protection’; Stankovic, ‘Microdisarmament and Compliance Costs’; Themnér, Violence in Post-conflict Societies; Daly, Organized Violence.

3. Guáqueta, ‘The Way Back in’; Hauge and Thoresen, ‘The Fate of Former Combatants’; Shesterinina, ‘Committed to Peace’; De Vries and Wiegink, ‘Breaking up and Going Home?’; Sharif, ‘Can the Rebel Body Function’.

4. Here and throughout, FARC-ep refers to the former armed group, while FARC refers to disarmed former members of the FARC-ep.

5. Shesterinina, ‘Committed to Peace’; Sharif, ‘Can the Rebel Body Function’.

6. Ríos et al, ‘The Political Discourse of Comunes’.

7. Guáqueta, ‘The Way Back in’; Enzo, ‘Understanding ex-combatants’.

8. In Colombia, the term reincorporation is used to distinguish the FARC collective process from individualised reintegration. This article uses reintegration as standard language in DDR; Interview with Camilo, FARC ex-combatant, Icononzo, Tolima, 15 March 2019; Acosta-Navas and Reyes, ‘From Combatants’ Boots’; Segura and Stein, ‘The FARC’s Collective Reincorporation Project’.

9. Matanock, Electing Peace

10. Ibid.

11. Matanock, Electing Peace; Long, ‘Congo Cooperative’; Randall, ‘Guatemalan Ex-Combatant Perspectives’; Sánchez, Batanicos, Una experiencia.

12. Agencia para la Reincorporación y Normalización, ‘ARN en Cifras Corte Febrero’.

13. Agencia para la Reincorporación y la Normalización, “Así Será la Transición’.

14. Colombia had territorial spaces to reintegrate M-19 fighters after their disarmament in 1990 and in 1997 Guatemala supported territorial spaces for former Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) fighters; see Sánchez, Batanicos, Una experiencia; Hauge and Thoresen, ‘The Fate of Former Combatants’; Randall, ‘Guatemalan Ex-Combatant Perspectives’.

15. Chernick, ‘Negotiating Peace’.

16. Norman, ‘Narcotization as Security Dilemma’; Ríos et al, ‘The Political Discourse of Comunes’, 91.

17. Themnér, Violence in Post-conflict Societies; Daly, Organized Violence.

18. Ribetti, ‘Disengagement and Beyond’, 159.

19. Ribetti, ‘Disengagement and Beyond’, 159; Themnér, Violence in Post-conflict Societies; Stankovic, ‘Microdisarmament and Compliance Costs’; Cubides, Burocracias Armadas, 29–50; Ferro and Uribe, El Orden de la Guerra; Interview with Isaac, FARC ex-combatant, Popayán, Cauca, 28 July 2021; Interview with Zahir, FARC ex-combatant, Fonseca, La Guajira, 19 August 2021; De-Artega and Boecking, ‘Killing of social leaders’; Interview with Alexander, FARC ex-combatant, La Paz, Cesar, 8 July 2021; Interview with Yuri, FARC ex-combatant, Fonseca, La Guajira, 19 August 2021; Interview with Néstor, FARC ex-combatant, Cali, Valle del Cauca, 21 July 2021; Interview with Bernardo, FARC ex-combatant, Fonseca, La Guajira, 21 August 2021; Interview with Winston. FARC ex-combatant, La Montañita, Caquetá, 15 September 2021.

20. Interview with Helena. FARC ex-combatant, Cali, Valle del Cauca, 24 July 2021; Interview with Isaac, FARC ex-combatant, Popayán, Cauca, 28 July 2021; Interview with Teo, FARC ex-combatant, La Montañita, Caquetá, 13 September 2021.

21. Interview with UN Verification Mission Representative, Bogotá D.C., Colombia, 30 June 2021; Shesterinina, ‘Committed to Peace’, 8.

22. Shesterinina, ‘Committed to Peace’; Sharif, ‘Can the Rebel Body Function’.

23. Ríos et al, ‘The Political Discourse of Comunes’, 83–4, 90–1.

24. Defensoría del Pueblo, ‘Reincorporación para la Paz’, 81.

25. Stedman, ‘Spoiler Problems’; Mehlum et al, ‘Plunder and Protection’.

26. Themnér, Violence in Post-conflict Societies; Daly, Organized Violence.

27. Daly, Organized Violence.

28. Themnér, Violence in Post-conflict Societies.

29. Walter, Committing to Peace; Toft, Securing the Peace; Nussio, ‘How Ex-Combatants Talk About Personal Security’.

30. Stankovic, ‘Microdisarmament and Compliance Costs’.

31. Soderström, Peacebuilding; De Vries and Wiegink, ‘Breaking up and Going Home?’; Bahman and Torjesen, Double Disillusionment; Ouaiss, and Rowayheb, ‘Ex-Combatants Working for Peace’; Friðriksdóttir, ‘Ex-Combatants as Social Activists’; Janzen, ‘Guatemalan Ex-Combatant Perspectives’; Hauge and Thoresen, ‘The Fate of Former Combatants’; Shesterinina, ‘Committed to Peace’; Sharif, ‘Can the Rebel Body Function’.

32. Hauge and Thoresen, ‘The Fate of Former Combatants’; De Vries and Wiegink, ‘Breaking up and Going Home?’; Shesterinina, ‘Committed to Peace’; Sharif, ‘Can the Rebel Body Function’.

33. Interview with Miguel. FARC ex-combatant, Popayán, Cauca, 28 July 2021; Interview with Sebastián. FARC ex-combatant, La Montañita, Caquetá, 13 September 2021; Interview with Yuri, FARC ex-combatant, Fonseca, La Guajira, 19 August 2021; Interview with Isaac, FARC ex-combatant, Popayán, Cauca, 28 July 2021; Interview with Beto, FARC ex-combatant, La Paz, Cesar, 7 July 2021; Interview with Abel, FARC ex-combatant, La Paz, Cesar, 9 July 2021; Interview with Diana, FARC ex-combatant, Popayán, Cauca, 27 July 2021; Interview with Zahir, FARC ex-combatant, Fonseca, La Guajira, 19 August 2021; Interview with Lucia Meneses, Academic Expert, Valledupar, Cesar, 6 July 2021.

34. Shesterinina, ‘Committed to Peace’; Sharif, ‘Can the Rebel Body Function’.

35. Nussio, ‘How Ex-Combatants Talk About Personal Security’.

36. Stankovic, ‘Microdisarmament and Compliance Costs’.

37. Walter, Committing to Peace; Toft, Securing the Peace.

38. García-Godos, ‘Colombia’, 229–30; Bahman and Torjesen; Nussio, Enzo, 2011. ‘Understanding ex-combatants’.

39. Daly, Organized Violence; Zyck, Former Combatant Reintegration; Bøas and Hatløy, ‘Getting in, Getting out’; Bahman and Torjesen, ‘Double Disillusionment’; García-Godos, ‘Colombia: Accountability and DDR’, 229–30; Phayal et al, ‘What Makes an Ex-Combatant Happy?’; Nussio and Kaplan, ‘Community Counts’.

40. Stedman, ‘Spoiler Problems’; Mehlum et al, ‘Plunder and Protection’; Richani, Systems of Violence; Stankovic, ‘Microdisarmament and Compliance Costs’.

41. Nussio and Kaplan, ‘Community Counts’.

42. Friðriksdóttir, ‘Ex-combatants as social activists’; Ouaiss and Rowayheb, ‘Ex-Combatants working for Peace’; De Vries and Wiegink, ‘Breaking up and Going Home?’.

43. Hauge and Thoresen, ‘The Fate of Former Combatants’; De Vries and Wiegink, ‘Breaking up and Going Home?

44. Knight and Özerdem, ‘Guns, Camps, and Cash’; Molloy, ‘Disarmament’.

45. Toft, Securing the Peace.

46. Walter, Committing to Peace.

47. Ibid.

48. Fortna, ‘Scraps of Paper’; Plank, ‘When Peace Leads to Divorce’.

49. Defensoría, ‘Informe Espacios’.

50. Some participants were in more than one category.

51. There were additional interviews with FARC ex-combatants conducted at other sites that are included in the count of total interviews conducted.

52. García-Godos, ‘Colombia: Accountability and DDR’; Nussio and Kaplan, ‘Community Counts’.

53. Defensoría, ‘Informe Espacios’.

54. González Rodríguez et al, Reincorporación para la Paz; Instituto Nacional de Medicina, ‘Forenses 2018’, 83–96; De-Artega et al, ‘Killing of social leaders’; Interview with Néstor, FARC ex-combatant, Cali, Valle del Cauca, 21 July 2021; Interview with Isaac, FARC ex-combatant, Popayán, Cauca, 28 July 2021.

55. Defensoría, ‘Informe Espacios’, 15.

56. Ibid.

57. Interview with Alexander, ex-political militant of FARC, La Paz, Cesar, 8 July 2021.

58. Trejos, ‘Hipótesis explicativas’.

59. Defensoría, ‘Informe Espacios’, 79–80

60. Ecos del Combeima, ‘En Icononzo’.

61. Verdad Abierta, ‘Icononzo testigo’.

62. Defensoría, ‘Informe Espacios’, 80.

63. Ecos del Combeima, ‘En Icononzo’.

64. López Morales, ‘Radiografía’.

65. Mecías, ‘En Audio’.

66. Defensoría, ‘Informe Espacios’, 86.

67. Ibid.

68. Interview with Jacinta, FARC ex-combatant, La Montañita, Caquetá, 11 September 2021.

69. Interview with Sebastían, FARC ex-combatant, La Montañita, Caquetá, 13 September 2021; Interview with Víctor, FARC ex-combatant, La Montañita, Caquetá, 11 September 2021.

70. Interview with Víctor, FARC ex-combatant, La Montañita, Caquetá, 11 September 2021.

71. Trejos, ‘Hipotesis explicativas’, 356.

72. Interview with Bernarda, FARC ex-combatant, Fonseca, La Guajira, 21 August 2021; Interview with Andrea, FARC ex-combatant, Fonseca, La Guajira, 20 August 20 2021.

73. Verdad Abierta, ‘Incononzo Testigo’.

74. El Tiempo, ‘Muere Guerrillero’.

75. Johnson, ‘Los disidentes’; Triana Sánchez, ‘La Segunda Marquetalia’.

76. Neira, ‘En el Frente 15’.

77. Tamayo Gomez and Hart, ‘Inside a Reintegration Camp’.

78. Norman, ‘Narcotization as Security Dilemma’; Verdad Abierta, ‘Historia de una disidencia’.

79. Interview with Gaspar, FARC ex-combatant, La Montañita, Caquetá, 2 March 2019.

80. Interview with Isabela, FARC ex-combatant, La Montañita, Caquetá, 12 September 2021; Interview with Sebastián, FARC ex-combatant (ex-commander), La Montañita, Caquetá, 13 September 2021.

81. Interview with Oscar, FARC ex-combatant, Bogotá, D.C., Colombia, 9 August 2021.

82. Interview with Fernanda, FARC ex-combatant, Dagua, Cauca, 21 July 2021; Interview with Umberto, FARC ex-combatant, La Montañita, Caquetá, 10 September 2021; Interview with Teo, FARC ex-combatant, La Montañita, Caquetá, 13 September 2021; Interview with Víctor, FARC ex-combatant, La Montañita, Caquetá, 11 September 2021; Interview with Isabela, FARC ex-combatant, La Montañita, Caquetá, 12 September 2021; Interview with Winston, FARC ex-combatant, La Montañita, Caquetá, 15 September 2021; Interview with Camilo, FARC ex-combatant, La Montañita, Caquetá, 15 March 2019; Interview with Xavier, FARC ex-combatant, La Paz, Cesar, 8 July 2021; Interview with Yuri, FARC excombatant, Fonseca, La Guajira, 19 August 2021; Interview with Zahir, FARC ex-combatant, Fonseca, La Guajira, 19 August 2021; Interview with María, FARC ex-combatant, Fonseca, La Guajira, 22 August 202; Interview with Henry, FARC excombatant, Monterredondo, Cauca, 30 August 2021; Interview with Helena, FARC excombatant, Cali, Valle del Cauca, 24 July 2021; Interview with Oscar, FARC excombatant (former commander), Cali, Valle del Cauca, 9 August 2021; Interview with Susana, FARC excombatant, La Paz, Cesar, 12 July 2021.

83. South Bloc commander, Milton de Jesús Toncel Redondo (alias Joaquín Gómez) and Seuxis Pausias Hernández Solarte (Jésus Santrich) also had ties with the Fonseca community but did not reside in the territorial space. Gómez was a native of La Guajira and returned to do political work. Santrich commanded the Caribbean Front. In 2019, Santrich temporarily took refuge in Fonseca due to potential legal troubles before leaving to join the FARC dissident group, Segunda Marquetalia.

84. Infobae, ‘Falleció Bertulfo Alvarez’; Interview with Yuri, FARC ex-combatant, Fonseca, La Guajira, 19 August 2021.

85. Mendoza Cuello, ‘Excombatientes de las Farc’.

86. Interview with Bernarda, FARC excombatant, Fonseca, La Guajira, 21 August 2021.

87. Padilla, ‘Cinco Años’.

88. Interview with Zahir, FARC ex-commander, Fonseca, La Guajira, 19 August 2021.

89. De-Artega, and Boecking, ‘Killing of social leaders’; Interview with Zahir, FARC ex-commander, Fonseca, La Guajira, 19 August 2021.

90. Interview with Jacinta, FARC ex-combatant, La Montañita, Caquetá, 11 September 2021; Interview with María, FARC ex-combatant, Fonseca, La Guajira, 22 August 2021; Interview with Fernando, FARC ex-combatant, Bogotá D.C., Colombia, 26 August 2021; Interview with Néstor, FARC ex-combatant, Cali, Valle del Cauca, 21 July 2021; Interview with Winston, FARC ex-combatant, La Montañita, Caquetá, 15 September 2021; Interview with Lucia Meneses, Academic Expert, Valledupar, Cesar, 6 July 2021; Interview with Camilo, FARC ex-combatant (miliciano), Icononzo, Tolima, 15 March 2019.

91. Interview with Néstor, FARC ex-combatant, Cali, Valle del Cauca, 21 July 2021; Interview with Oscar, FARC excombatant (former commander), Cali, Valle del Cauca, 9 August 2021; Interview with Bernardo, FARC ex-combatant, Fonseca, La Guajira, 21 August 2021.

92. Interviewed UN Mission Colombia Representative, Cesar, Colombia, 30 June 2021; Interview with UN Mission Colombia Volunteer, Fonseca, La Guajira, 23 August 2021.

93. Padilla, ‘Cinco Años’.

94. UN Verification Mission, ‘Alliance in Fonseca’.

95. Interview with Beto, former FARC commander, La Paz Cesar, 7 July 2021.

96. Romero, ‘el proyecto’.

97. Ibid.

98. Cronología de la gestión del territorio y de la vivienda en la vereda Tierra grata, Manaure, Cesar (a chronology of the development of the La Paz territorial space) document provided to the author by a FARC ex-combatant and local builder in La Paz, Cesar, 8 July 2021.

99. Interview with Xavier, FARC ex-combatant, La Paz, Cesar, 8 July 2021.

100. Interview with Beto, former FARC commander, La Paz, Cesar, 7 July 2021; Interview with Alexander, ex-political militant of FARC, La Paz, Cesar, 8 July 2021.

101. Interview with representative of the UN Verification Mission in Cesar, Bogotá D.C., Colombia, 30 June 2021.

102. Former FARC commander Germán Gómez quoted in Romero, ‘el projecto’.

103. ‘Quién es y Qué Hacía Alirio’.

104. Bellani, ‘El Regreso’.

105. Interview with Camilo, FARC ex-combatant, Icononzo, Tolima, 15 March 2019.

106. Interview with Camilo, FARC ex-combatant, Icononzo, Tolima, 15 March 2019.

107. El Espectador, ‘Aquí ya no estamos’.

108. Interview with Camilo, FARC ex combatant, Icononzo, Tolima, 15 March 2019.

109. El Espectador, ‘Aquí ya no estamos’.

110. Ibid.

111. Bellani, ‘El regreso a la vida’.

112. Verdad Abierta, ‘La historia’.

113. Forero, ‘Así es la vida’; Tamayo Gomez and Hart, ‘Inside a Reintegration Camp’.

114. Interview with Isabela, FARC ex-combatant, La Montañita, Caquetá, 12 September 2021.

115. Tamayo Gomez and Hart, ‘Inside a Reintegration Camp’.

116. Interview with Sebastián, FARC ex-combatant (ex-commander), La Montañita, Caquetá, 13 September 2021.

117. Ibid.

118. Stankovic, ‘Microdisarmament and Compliance Costs’.

119. Interview with Isabela, FARC ex-combatant, La Montañita, Caquetá, 12 September 2021; Interview with Winston, FARC ex-combatant, La Montañita, Caquetá, 15 September 2021; Interview with María, FARC ex-combatant, Fonseca, La Guajira, 22 August 2021; Interview with Sebastián, FARC ex-combatant (ex-commander), La Montañita, Caquetá, 13 September 2021.

120. Nussio and Kaplan, ‘Community Counts’; Zyck, ‘Former Combatant Reintegration’.

121. Interview with Celia, FARC ex-combatant Dagua, Cauca, 21 July 2021; Interview with Henry, FARC ex-combatant, Monterredondo, Cauca, 30 August 2021; Interview with Luis, FARC ex-combatant, Popayán, Cauca, 28 July 2021; Interview with Fernando, FARC ex-combatant, Dagua, Cauca, 21 July 2021; Interview with Andrea, FARC ex-combatant, Fonseca, La Guajira, 20 August 2021; Interview with Beto, FARC ex-combatant, La Paz, Cesar, 7 July 2021; Interview with Isaac, FARC ex-combatant (ex-commander), Popayan, Cauca, 28 July 2021; Interview with Kenny, FARC ex-combatant, Popayán, Cauca, 28 July 2021; Interview with José, FARC ex-combatant, Popayán, Cauca, 28 July 2021; Interview with Susana, FARC ex-combatant, La Paz, Cesar, 12 July 2021.

122. Zyck, ‘Former Combatant Reintegration’.

123. Interviewed UN Mission Colombia Representative, Cesar, Colombia, 30 June 2021; Interview with Alexander, FARC ex-combatant, La Paz, Cesar, 8 July 2021; Interview with Fernando, FARC ex-combatant, Dagua, Cauca, 21 July 2021.

124. Rojas, ‘Jamás Volveremos’.

125. Interview with Xavier, FARC ex-combatant, La Paz, Cesar, 8 July 2021; Interview with Quintana, FARC ex-combatnat, La Montañita, Caquetá, 2 March 2019.

126. Interview with Henry, FARC ex-combatant, Monterredondo, Cauca, 30 August 2021; Interview with Fernando, FARC ex-combatant, Dagua, Cauca, 21 July 2021; Interview with Reynaldo, FARC ex-combatant, Patía, Cauca, 28 July 2021.

127. Interview with Alexander, FARC ex-combatant, La Paz, Cesar, 8 July 2021; Interview with Zahir, FARC ex-combatant, Fonseca, La Guajira, 19 August 2021; Interview with Abel, FARC ex-combatant, La Paz, Cesar, 9 July 2021; Interview with Camilo, FARC ex-combatant (miliciano), Icononzo, Tolima, 15 March 2019; Interview with Humberto, FARC ex-combatant, La Paz, Cesar, 12 July 2021; Interview with Nadine, FARC excombatant, La Paz, Cesar, 10 July 2021; Interview with Teo, FARC excombatant, La Montañita, Caquetá, 13 September 2021.

128. Zembrano, ‘The Collective Reincorporation’.

129. Defensoría, ‘Informe Espacios’; López Morales, ‘Radiografía’.

130. Nussio and Kaplan, ‘Community Counts’.

131. Defensoría, ‘Informe Espacios’, 82.

132. Interview with Helena, FARC ex-combatant, Cali, Valle del Cauca, 24 July 2021; Interview with Sebastían, FARC ex-combatant, La Montañita, Caquetá, 13 September 2021; Interview with Uberto, FARC Ex-combatant, La Montañita, Caquetá, 10 September 2021.

133. Flores and Calderón, ‘Por qué excombatientes’.

134. Defensoría, ‘Informe Espacios’, 68, 78.

135. Ibid., 68.

136. Interview with Isaac, FARC ex-combatant, Popayán, Cauca, 28 July 2021.

137. Flores and Calderón, ‘Por qué excombatientes’.

138. Interview with Helena, FARC ex-combatant, Cali, Valle del Cauca, 24 July 2021.

139. Defensoría, ‘Informe Espacios’, 82.

140. Human Rights Watch, ‘Recyled Violence’.

141. Flores and Calderón, ‘Por qué excombatientes’; Defensoría, ‘Informe Espacios’, 82.

142. López Morales, ‘Radiografía’.

143. Interview with Fernanda, FARC ex-combatant, Tumaco, Nariño (by telephone from Bogotá), August 26, 2021.

144. Defensoría, ‘Informe Espacios’, 67, 77.

145. Ibid., 77, 88.

146. Valero Sevilla, ‘Ataque del ELN’.

147. Interview with Ursula, FARC ex-combatant, Anorí, Antioquia, 11 July 2022.

148. Interview with Camilo, FARC ex-miliciano, Icononzo, Tolima, 15 March 2019.

149. Indepaz, ‘Localized Armed Conflicts’, 87.

150. Interview with Néstor, FARC ex-combatant, Cali, Valle del Cauca, 21 July 2021.

151. Interview with Helena, FARC ex-combatant, Cali, Valle del Cauca, 24 July 2021; Interview with Isaac, FARC ex-combatant, Popayán, Cauca, 28 July 2021; Interview with Néstor, FARC ex-combatant, Cali, Valle del Cauca, 21 July 2021.

152. Interview with Fernando, FARC ex-combatant, Dagua, Cauca, 21 July 2021.

153. Alvarado, ‘Anorí’.

154. Indepaz, ‘Localized Armed Conflicts’, 87.

155. Ibid., 82.

156. Ibid., 85.

157. Ibid., 73.

158. Human Rights Watch, ‘Recycled Violence’, 25–7.

159. Indepaz, ‘Localized Armed Conflicts’, 73.

160. Human Rights Watch, ‘Recycled Violence’; Fundacíon Paz, ‘Como va la paz?’, 43; López Morales, ‘Radiografía’.

161. Indepaz, ‘Localized Armed Conflicts’, 76–7.

162. Ibid., 88.

163. Interview with Ursula, FARC ex-combatant, Anorí, Antioquia, 11 July 2022.

164. Interview with Tania, FARC ex-combatant, Mutatá, Antioquia, 9 July 2022.

165. Lopera-Arbeláez, ‘Collective reincorporation of FARC-EP’, 10–1.

166. Romero, Paramilitares y autodefensas.

167. Gutiérrez, ‘En Mutatá’; Interview with Faustino, FARC excombatant, Mutatá, Antioquia, 9 July 2022.

168. El Espectador, ‘Excombatientes Salen’. 9 July 2022.

169. Gutiérrez, ‘En Mutatá’.

170. United Nations Verification Mission Colombia, ‘En San José’.

171. United Nations Verification Mission Colombia, ‘En San José’; El Espectador, ‘Excombatientes Salen’.

172. Interview with Yuri, FARC ex-combatant, Fonseca, La Guajira, 19 August 2021.

173. Interview with Néstor, FARC ex-combatant, Cali, Valle del Cauca, 21 July 2021.

174. Interview with Néstor, FARC ex-combatant, Cali, Valle del Cauca, 21 July 2021; Interview with Oscar, FARC ex-combatant (former commander), Cali, Valle del Cauca, 9 August 2021; Interview with Esperanza, FARC ex-combatant, Popayán, Cauca, 27 July 2021; Interview with Helena, FARC ex-combatant, Cali, Valle del Cauca, 24 July 2021; Interview with Diana, FARC ex-combatant, Popayán, Cauca, 27 July 2021.

175. Interview with Pablo, FARC ex-combatant, Popayán, Cauca, 27 July 2021.

176. Ibid.

177. Interview with Reynaldo, Patía, Cauca (by phone from Bogotá), 28 August 2021.

178. Human Rights Watch, ‘Recycled Violence’, 27–30.

179. Ríos et al, ‘The Political Discourse’, 92’93.

180. Gill, ‘These are the FARC’.

181. Kalyvas, ‘The Ontology of “Political Violence”’.

182. Berdal and Ucko, Reintegrating Armed Groups.

183. Hauge and Thoresen, ‘The Fate of Former Combatants’; Themnér, Violence in Post-Conflict Societies; Daly, Organized Violence.

184. Janzen, ‘Guatemalan Ex-Combatant’.

185. Sánchez Aramburo, Batanicos.

186. Villarraga, ‘La historia de las disidencias’.

Additional information

Funding

This research was generously supported by the US Fulbright Scholar Programme-Colombia Fulbright Commission, the International Peace Research Association Foundation (IPRAF), and Research, Discovery, and Innovation (RDI) grant from the University of Arizona.

Notes on contributors

Susan Brewer-Osorio

Susan Brewer-Osorio is Assistant Professor of Latin American Studies and Political Science at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. Her research focuses on contentious politics, conflict, and peace building in Andean South America.