Title	Political violence in Colombia: Myth and reality
Publisher	Amnesty International
Publication Date	1 March 1994
Country	Colombia
Topics	Abduction | Anti-terrorism law | Arbitrary arrest and detention | Armed groups / Militias / Paramilitary forces / Resistance movements | Death squads | Disappeared persons | Drug trafficking | Extrajudicial executions | Freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment | Human rights activists | Impunity | Indigenous persons | Military courts | Military law | Military operations | Protection of civilian persons in time of war | Right to justice | Security forces | Security situation | Social group persecution | State of emergency
Citation / Document Symbol	AMR 23/001/1994
Cite as	Amnesty International, Political violence in Colombia: Myth and reality, 1 March 1994, AMR 23/001/1994, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6a9e60.html [accessed 7 June 2023]
Comments	In Colombia the military literally get away with murder. Army counter-insurgency strategy, honed in 40 years of conflict with guerrillas, is the backdrop to massacre upon massacre. Widespread human rights violations go unpunished. Since 1986, over 20,000 people have died in political violence. Many died in confrontations between guerrillas and government forces. But most were peasant farmers in conflict zones. The government blames most political violence on drug-trafficking organizations and guerrilla forces. Drug-traffickers and guerrillas have committed grave abuses. But evidence drawn from thousands of cases, and the chilling statistics of political murder, shows that the security forces and their paramilitary allies are responsible for most killings. In this report, Amnesty International describes the human rights violations carried out with impunity. The report also traces the development of the paramilitary forces from the army's network of village 'self-defence' groups to a powerful killing machine. Successive governments have promised to restore respect for human rights. These promises have been broken. Until the government finds the political will to fulfil past promises, human rights violations will continue.
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