Colombia at Odds with Latin America’s Left-turn: Exclusion, Repression and Stigmatization of the Left in ColombiaTatiana SuarezRegent’s University LondonMarch 21st , 2015

COMMON LOGICS OF CHANGE

“With a common colonial heritage (Stein and Stein, 1970), similar histories of capitalist development involving distinctive modes of incorporation into the global economy (Cardoso and Faletto, 1979), and cyclical patterns of political instability (Collier and Collier, 2002), the Nations of Latin America have often seem to share common logics of social change”. (Cameron, 2011)

THE ANOMALOUS NATURE OF COLOMBIA

Almost complete absence of:

• Military rule• Strong political left• Successful populist movements• Demobilisation of all

insurgencies

COLOMBIA: A RIGHTWARD SWITCH

LATIN AMERICA TURNS LEFTEarly 2000’s•Hugo Chávez in Venezuela (1998, 2001, 2007, 2013)•Ricardo Lagos in Chile (2000) •Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil (2002, 2006)•Nestor Kirchner in Argentina (2003, 2007)

Since the Mid 2000’s•Tabaré Vasquez and José Mujica in Uruguay (2005, 2010, 2015)•Evo Morales in Bolivia (2006, 2010, 2014)•Michelle Brachelet in Chile (2006, 2014)•Dilma Rousseff in Brazil (2010, 2014)•Rafael Correa in Ecuador (2007, 2009, 2013)•Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua (2007, 2011)•Cristina Fernandez in Argentina (2007, 2011)•Mauricio Funes and Salvador Sanchez in El Salvador (2009, 2014)•Manuel Zelaya in Honduras (2006, overthrown)•Fernando Lugo in Paraguay (2008- overthrown)

  

WHAT IS THE LEFT?

Ideology

Policy making

Constituents

THE CIVIL LEFT IN COLOMBIAHistorical context

First half of the 20th century

• Liberal and Conservatives dominated party politics• Communist and Socialist Parties played a minor role• Usually co-opted by the liberal party

Bipartisan agreement (1958- 1974)

• Third parties were excluded• Formation of leftist guerrillas

The 1980’s and 1990’s

• Demobilisation of guerrillas groups• Extermination of political actors

FAVOURABLE CONTEXT IN THE XXI CENTURY Economic• Economics crisis result of neoliberal policies

Political• Collapse of the two-party system• Constitutional reforms to extend participation• Separation of the democratic left from the

armed left

Social• The rise of social movements

THE NEW LEFT Unification• Social and Political Front

(1999)• Democratic Pole (2002)• Democratic Alternative (2003)• Alternative Democratic Pole

(2005)Factionalism • Dissidents joined the Green

Party (2013)• The Communist Party is expelled

(2014)

MOMENTUM LOST

2002 2006 2010 20140

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Party 1

Party 2

Left Coalition

Party 4

Other parties and blank votes

EXOGENOUS AND ENDOGENOUS BARRIERSExogenous

Institutional Barrier

Political violence

Stigmatization & discredit

Endogenous

Operational Ideological & strategic

Programmatic & Organizational

THE LEFT TODAY

CONCLUSIONS1. Barriers from outside and inside the left

have prevented their consolidation2. Political violence and the armed conflict are

a liability for the civic Left in Colombia3. Security issues have become part of the

Left’s agenda in Colombia4. Contemporary left is divided, stigmatised and

still persecuted5. Electoral results have postponed party

building6. Demobilisation of guerrillas present the left

with both opportunities and threats