The Last Guerrillas

The Colombian government is committed to ending five decades of internal armed conflict by any means possible. The talks currently underway between the government and the FARC have the potential to bring the violence to an end, bolstering Colombian development efforts and contributing to regional peace and stability.

BOGOTÁ – During the Cold War, tensions between the West and the Soviet Union affected virtually all countries worldwide. As a result, throughout Latin America, guerrilla groups emerged, seeking to destabilize military dictatorships and attain democracy, freedom, and policy reform – goals that they believed could not be achieved peacefully.

Above all, it was the Cuban Revolution of 1959 – in which armed revolutionaries successfully overthrew the military dictator Fulgencio Batista – that inspired this movement. Indeed, Che Guevara, an icon of the revolution, died in Bolivia while attempting to export the guerrilla project.

At the end of 2012, conditions in Latin America are very different. Democracy is not the exception, but the rule; military regimes have succumbed to the power of the ballot box; and guerrilla groups have largely become a relic of the past.

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