Terrorism

A consensus definition of the term terrorism does not exist. Actors in conflict generally define the word according to their interests. While a government's definition may be specifically designed to implicate a particular group, the group in question may offer a counter-definition designed to rebut the government's assertion. Groups that have been designated as terrorist organizations will often argue that the government that made the designation is itself a terrorist organization. For the purposes of this article, terrorism will be defined as the deliberate targeting of ordinary people, with violence or the threat of violence, for the pursuit of political goals.

HISTORY

Diverse actors have historically used terrorism in Latin America. States have employed the tactic under military regimes, as in Argentina from 1976 to 1983, Brazil from 1964 to 1985, and Chile from 1973 to 1990. Forced disappearances, torture, and targeted killings have been used by these governments and others to keep internal enemies of the state at bay. Such enemies have included communists, labor unions, and student activists. Drug cartels have planted bombs in shopping malls to erode public confidence in the state, as in the case of Pablo Escobar and the Medellín Cartel in Colombia in the 1980s. Left-wing guerrillas have kidnapped thousands. Right-wing paramilitaries have summarily executed entire villages, claiming that their victims had conspired with guerrillas. In certain cases, individuals thought by some to be "freedom fighters" have been implicated in terrorist acts. Luis Posada Carriles, a Venezuelan national convicted of involvement in blowing up a Cubana airliner in 1976, killing seventy-three people, is one such example (Moghaddam, p. 10).

TERRORISM IN CONTEMPORARY LATIN AMERICA

Terrorism is extremely uncommon in most parts of Latin America in the early twenty-first century. The majority of all terrorist acts in the region takes place in rural parts of Colombia. Cuba remains on the U.S. State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism, but most people believe this designation to be anachronistic. While Cuba actively supported left-wing revolutionary movements from the 1960s until the 1980s, Fidel Castro asserted in 1992 that his support for insurgents abroad had ended. Analysts generally believe this to be accurate (Sullivan, p. 3). Three terrorism hot spots in the region deserve elaboration: Colombia, Peru, and the Tri-Border area (TBA) of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.

Colombia

Three main groups that could be deemed terrorist organizations operate in Colombia as of 2007. Each of these groups is deeply involved in the international drug trade. The Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC; Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia) and the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN; National Liberation Army) are left-wing guerrilla movements that began in the early 1960s. Both of these groups claim to fight what they believe is a corrupt government on behalf of Colombia's poor majority. The FARC is by far the larger, stronger, and more dangerous of the two organizations, numbering between 12,000 and 18,000 members. The ELN is also an important challenge for the government of Colombia and a threat to Colombia's rural population, with approximately 3,000 to 4,000 members. Each of these groups is known to have kidnapped, killed, and intimidated Colombian citizens in hopes of consolidating a military presence in the country. Though many Colombians believe these groups no longer retain their decades-old purported ideology of social equality, some believe that they only reluctantly employ terrorist tactics (Brittain and Sacouman, p. 1). Without kidnapping for ransom, for example, these people argue that the groups would lose an important source of revenue used to carry out their hopeful revolutions. Negotiations between these two groups and the government of Colombia have been difficult over the decades. In December 2005 the ELN and the government commenced negotiations in Havana, Cuba, for a ceasefire, but after two years no agreement had yet been reached. Possible negotiations with the FARC are even more difficult, because both sides have stipulated preconditions to talks that have not been met. The third group, the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC; United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia), is an umbrella organization of right-wing paramilitary groups that formed in the mid-1990s. This organization is known to have been, and in some cases is still known to be, particularly vicious and violent. According to reports from international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) such as Human Rights Watch, the vast majority of violations of international humanitarian law in Colombia have been carried out by paramilitaries (Human Rights Watch, p. 112). The Colombian government estimates that, at its strongest, the AUC once numbered as many as 32,000 members. Since then nearly 30,000 have reportedly demobilized and some 16,000 have giv-en up arms (Rangel, p. 1). The negotiation process between the government and the AUC is ongoing.

Peru

The Shining Path is a Maoist guerrilla organization that was founded by a philosophy professor named Abimael Guzmán in Ayacucho, Peru, in 1980. The stated goal of the group is to bring about a peasant-led communist state in which all Peruvians will be equal. From 1980 until 1992 the group waged a brutal war on the people of Peru, targeting elected officials, peasants, activists, and, more generally, the civilian population at large. Having once boasted several thousand members, the group was severely weakened with the capture of its founder and leader, Guzmán, in Lima in 1992. Convicted on charges of terrorism on October 13, 2006, he began serving a life sentence in Callao. Remnants of the Shining Path remain active in the jungle and Andean region of the country, comprising fewer than 500 members (Hyland, p. 3).

Tri-Border Area (TBA)

The area surrounding the intersection of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay is not a theater of operations for any terrorist group. However, the TBA is considered an important staging ground for terrorist-related activity. The area has long been known for arms and drug trafficking, contraband smuggling, document and currency fraud, money laundering, and the manufacture and movement of pirated goods (Sullivan, p. 3). The area hosts a relatively large Muslim population, and many analysts believe that the profits gained from illegal activity in the area are destined for organizations associated with Islamic extremism, particularly the Palestinian group Hamas and the Lebanon-based group Hezbollah. In 1992 a bomb exploded at the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, killing twenty-nine people, and in 1994 a bomb exploded at the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association, also in the Argentine capital, killing eighty-six people. While there is no hard evidence to support the claim, many believe that these bombings were the work of Hezbollah and that the group may have used the TBA for planning. Hezbollah has denied these charges.

See alsoColombia: Since Independence; Guerrilla Movements; Guzmán, Abimael; Peru: Peru Since Independence.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brittain, James J., and R. James Sacouman. "Is the FARC-EP Dependent on Coca?" ANNCOL. March 23, 2006. Available from http://www.peaceobservatory.org/388/is-the-farc-ep-dependent-on-coca.

Human Rights Watch. War without Quarter: Colombia and International Humanitarian Law. New York: Human Rights Watch, 1998.

Hyland, Frank. "Peru's Shining Path Gaining Ground?" Terrorism Focus 4, no. 28 (September 11, 2007): 3-4.

Moghaddam, Fathali M. From the Terrorists' Point of View: What They Experience and Why They Come to Destroy. Westport, CT: Praeger Security International, 2006.

Rangel, Alfredo. "Las elecciones menos violentas en 10 años." Fundación Seguridad y Democracia. October 29, 2007. Available from http://www.seguridadydemocracia.org/docs/pdf/conflictoArmado/eleccionesMenosViolentas.pdf.

Sullivan, Mark P. "Latin America: Terrorism Issues." CRS Report for Congress RS21049. Updated January 22, 2007. Available from http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/81364.pdf.

                                     Joseph M. Cantey Jr.