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4 See, John Coatsworth, , ‘Colombia: Roots of Violence in Colombia’, Revista: Harvard Report on the Americas, 2:3 (Spring 2003), p. 8Google Scholar .

5 See Richani, Nazih, The Political Economy of War and Peace in Colombia (Albany: SUNY, 2002)Google Scholar , and Leóngomez, Eduardo Pizaro, Una democracia asediada – balance y perspectives del conflicto armado en Colombia (Bogotá: Norma, 2004)Google Scholar .

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9 See Mora, Alberto Mayor, Etica, Trabajo y Productividad en Antioquia (Bogotá: Tercer Mundo, 1984), p. 447Google Scholar .

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11 See Pécault, Daniel, ‘From the banality of violence to real terror: the case of Colombia’, in Koonings, Kees and Kruijt, Kirk (eds), Societies of Fear (London: Zed, 1999)Google Scholar .

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13 FARC, ‘Las FARC-EP: 30 años de luchas por la paz, democracia y soberanía’ (May 1994), {http://www.analitica.com/biblioteca/farc/30.asp} accessed on 7 May 2007.

14 FARC, ‘Historia de las Conferencias’ (May 2004), {http://farc-ep/org/aniversario/especial40/text04.html} accessed on 5 January 2007.

15 FARC, ‘40 años de la lucha por la paz’ (May 2004), {http://www.farc-ep.org/aniversario/especial40aniv/text10.html}, accessed on 10 January 2008.

16 Ibid.

17 For a broader discussion of the Farc's transformation from a traditional guerrilla group to involvement in crime. See Rochlin, James, Vanguard Revolutionaries in Latin America: Peru, Colombia and Mexico (New York: Lynne Rienner, 2003)Google Scholar , ch. 4.

18 FARC, ‘Historia de las Conferencias’.

19 FARC, ‘30 años de las FARC-EP, Texto Completo del Discurso Pronunciado por Comandante en Jefe de las FARC-EP Manuel Marulanda Vélez (27 May 1994), {http://six.swix.ch/farcep/Nuestra_historia/30_anos_manuel.thm}, accessed on 19 February 2007.

20 FARC, Manuel Marulanda Vélez, ‘Texto completo del discurso pronunciado’ (27 May 1994).

21 For an excellent discussion of internal developments within the Farc during the 1990s especially, see, Torres, Aurora Moreno, ‘Transformaciones Internas de las Farc a Partir de los Cambios Políticos por los que Atraviesa el Estado Colombiano’, Papel Político, 11:2 (July 2006) (Bogotá), pp. 595–635Google Scholar .

22 FARC, ‘Nuestra Historia; Alfredo Rangel, “El Repliegue de las FARC: Derrota o Estrategía?” Fundación Seguridad y Democracia’ (2004), p. 13, {www.seguridadydemocracia.org}, accessed on 19 February 2007.

23 See Rochlin, James, Discovering the Americas: the Evolution of Canadian Foreign Policy Towards Latin America (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1993), pp. 211–212Google Scholar .

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25 For a broader discussion of this, see, Russell Crandall, ‘Explicit Narcotization: US Policy Toward Colombia During the Presidential Administration of Ernesto Samper’, paper presented to the Latin American Studies Association, Washington DC (6 September 2001).

26 For a good discussion of the strategic situation between the Farc and the Colombian government during the 1990s, see, Suarez, Alfredo Rangel, Colombia: Guerra en el Fin de Siglo (Bogotá; TM Editores, 1999)Google Scholar .

27 See, for example, Romero, Mauricio, ‘Élites regionales, identidades, y paramilitares en sel Sinú’, in Peñarada, Ricardo and Guerrero, Javier (eds), De las Armas a la Política (Bogotá: Tercer Mundo, 1999), pp. 175–218Google Scholar .

28 See Borch, Guri and Stuvoy, Kirsti, ‘Practices of Self-Legitimation in Armed Groups: Money and Mystique of the Farc in Colombia’, Distinktion, 17 (2008), pp 97–120CrossRefGoogle Scholar .

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31 See Krepinevich, Andrew, ‘Calvary to Computer: the Patterns of Military Revolutions’, The National Interest, 37 (Autumn 1994), p. 33Google Scholar .

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33 Foucault, Michel, The Order of Things (New York: Vintage, 1970), p. 387Google Scholar .

34 See: Thucydides, , History of the Peloponnesian War, ed. Strassler, Robert (New York: Free Press, 1996)Google Scholar ; and Homer, , Iliad (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1995)Google Scholar .

35 See, for example, Lothar Ibugger, ‘The Revolution in Military Affairs’, NATO Parliamentary Assembly Paper (November 1998).

36 Dokubo, Charles, ‘An Army for Rent, Private Military Corporations’, Civil Wars, 3:2 (Summer 2000), p. 53CrossRefGoogle Scholar .

37 Adams, Thomas, ‘The New Mercenaries and the Privatization of Conflict’, Parameters, 29:2, p. 104Google Scholar .

38 See MPRI's web page, available at: {www.mpri.com}, under ‘capabilities’.

39 An example is the company AirScan.

40 The Center for Public Integrity, ‘Colombia’, {www.stratfor.coom/hotspot_Colombia/presence.htm}.

41 El Tiempo (9 December 2000)Google ScholarPubMed .

42 El Tiempo (18 June 2003)Google Scholar ; and New York Times (12 September 2003)Google Scholar .

43 US Department of State, ‘Report on Certain Counternarcotics Activities in Colombia’ (April 2003), {www.ciponline.org/Colombia/13141401.htm}.

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46 FARC, FARC-EP, ‘Empresas criminales avalades por Seguridad Democratica’ (11 November 2004), {www.farcep.org/novedades/coyuntura/paramilitarismo/noviembre_11_2004.php}.

47 US Department of State, ‘Congressional Budget Justification for Foreign Operations, Fiscal Year 2005’ (2004), {www.state.gov/m/rm/rls/cbi}, accessed on 27 December 2007.

48 El Tiempo (10 December 2006)Google ScholarPubMed .

49 US Department of State, ‘A Report to Congress on US Policy towards Colombia and Other Related Issues’ (3 February 2003), {www.state.gov/p/what/rls/rpt/17140.htm}, accessed on 3 July 2008; and US Government Accountability Office (GAO), Drug Control: Aviation Program Safety Concerns in Colombia are Being Addressed, but State's Planning and Budgeting Process Can be Improved (Washington DC: GAO, July 2004), p. 17Google Scholar .

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51 El Tiempo (5 February 2006)Google ScholarPubMed .

52 For an excellent discussion of the paramilitaries, see Nazih Richani, ‘Caudillos’, op. cit.

53 See Los Angeles Times (25 March 2007)Google ScholarPubMed .

54 See National Security Archives, George Washington University, ‘Body Count Mentalities’ (7 January 2009), {www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB266/index.htm}.

55 See Sun Tzu, The Art of War, ch. 13.

56 Bentham, Jeremy, The Panopticon Writings (London: Verso, 1995)Google Scholar .

57 This is according to Colombian army general Enrique Mora, as quoted in El Tiempo (6 November 2003)Google ScholarPubMed .

58 Center for International Policy, ‘US Support for Plan Colombia’ (2 September 2003), {www.ciponline.orgs/facts/coaid.htm}, accessed on 13 October 2003.

59 See AFP, ‘Top Woman Rebel Surrenders in Colombia’ (19 May 2008); see also El Espectador (18 May 2008)Google Scholar .

60 See GlobalSecurity.org, ‘Plan Colombia’ (8 November 2004), {www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/colombia.htm}, accessed 2 January 2008.

61 US Department of State, ‘President Bush, President Pastrana Discuss Trade, Terrorism’, George Bush, President, ‘Remarks with President of Colombia at the White House’ (18 April 2002), {www.state.gov/p/what/rls/rm/9542.htm}, accessed on 18 March 2007.

62 See GlobalSecurity.org, ‘Colombia’, {www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/colombia.htm}, accessed 16 August 2007.

63 For figures on raining, see US Department of State, ‘Foreign Military Training: Joint Report to Congress, Fiscal Year 2003–2004’ (June 2004), {www.state/govt/t/pm/rls/rrpt/fmtrpt/2004/34221.thm}, accessed 3 October 2007. The figure provided includes an estimate of 4,258 soldiers in 2004.

64 US Defense Institute of Security Assistance Management, ‘Counterterrorism Fellowship Program’ (2005), {www.disam.sca.mil/itm/Programs/CTF?@CTF_Program.htm}, accessed on 23 August 2006; and US Department of State, ‘Foreign Military Training: Joint Report to Congress, Fiscal Year 2003–2004’.

65 See El Tiempo (28–30 January, 2009)Google ScholarPubMed .

66 For a more general view of narcotrafficking with regard to insurgency, see, Cornel, Svante, ‘Narcotics and Armed Conflict,: Interaction and Implications’, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 30 (2007), pp. 207–227CrossRefGoogle Scholar .

67 Former paramilitary leader Carlos Castaño made this admission during a television interview in Colombia, which was also covered by the print media such as El Tiempo (2 March 2000)Google ScholarPubMed .

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71 Farc, ‘A la comunidad internacional’ (April 1998 – no specific date) and ‘Carta pública al pueblo’ (April 1998 – no specific date). See {www.farc-ep.org}.

72 See Safford, Frank and Palacios, Marco, Colombia: Fragmented Land, Divided Society (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 362–363Google Scholar .

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74 El Tiempo (29 June 2008)Google ScholarPubMed .

75 As quoted in the Guardian (9 March 2009)Google ScholarPubMed .

76 ‘The Guerrilla in Colombia: An Interview with Rodrigo Granda’, op. cit.

77 For a broader discussion of the use of language in the Colombian conflict, see, Posada-Carbó, Eduardo, ‘Language and Politics: On the Colombian Establishment’, Latin American Research Review, 42:2 (June 2007), pp. 111–135Google Scholar ; and Hunt, Stacey, ‘Languages of Stateness’, Latin American Research Review, 42:2 (June 2007), pp. 88–121Google Scholar .

78 See, Rochlin, James, Vanguard Revolutionaries in Latin America: Peru, Colombia and Mexico (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2003)Google Scholar , ch. Four.

79 As quoted in National Hydrocarbon Agency, Government of Colombia, ‘Colombian Oil and Gas Investment Conference’ (May 2005), {www.gematours.com/hidrocarburos/en/paper/htm}, accessed 12 September 2005.

80 Interview by author, José Rafael Unda, Director, Gestion Social, Ecopetrol, Bogotá (4 June 2008).

81 Interview by author, Jorge Vasquez, member of the Junta Directiva, Union Sindical Obera (USO), Cartagena (21 November 2007).

82 Ibid.

83 This view is a common one, and was expressed by Dr Marc Chernick, a Professor at the Centre for Latin American Studies, Georgetown University, during an interview with All Things Considered, National Public Radio (3 July 2008)Google ScholarPubMed .

84 Interview by author with Juan Patricio Navarro, Vice Ministro, Plan Ecuador, Government of Ecuador, Quito (6 March 2008).

85 See Telesur (4 July 2008)Google Scholar .

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90 Interview by author with José Rafael Unda, Director, Gestion Social, Ecopetrol, Bogotá (4 June 2008).

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93 One manifestation of this are what some call the ‘magic laptops’ which the Colombian government claims to have captured after its bombing of Raul Reyes in Ecuador. See, for example, Denvir, Daniel, ‘Colombia's Magic Laptops’, Nacla Report on the Americas (November/December 2008), pp. 4–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar .

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95 Beyond the abuses of the Farc and the state, the paramilitaries may have committed more human rights abuses than either. For a particular manifestation of this, see Oslender, Ulrich, ‘Violence in development: the logic of forced displacement on Colombia's Pacific coast’, Development in Practice, 17:6 (November 2007), pp. 752–764CrossRefGoogle Scholar .

96 There are numerous places in Thucydides' text where this occurs. For example, early in Book One he observes ‘the exaggeration which a poet would feel himself licenses to employ […]’, A History of the Peloponnesian War, p 9.

97 See, for example, Tzu, Sun, The Art of War (Boston: Shambhala, 1991)Google Scholar , where he notes ‘The condition of military force is that its essential factor is speed’, p. 93. Chapter Ten is devoted to terrain.

98 See, Bentham, Jeremy, The Panopticon Writings (London: Verso, 1995)Google Scholar ; and von Clausewitz, CarlOn War (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989)Google Scholar , especially ch. 6.

99 See, Napoleon, , How to Make War (New York: Ediciones La Calevera, 1998), p. 1Google Scholar .

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