Download or read book Histories of Perplexity written by A. Ricardo López-Pedreros and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-03-19 with total page 455 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By combining chronological coverage, analytical breadth, and interdisciplinary approaches, these two volumes—Histories of Solitude and Histories of Perplexity—study the histories of Colombia over the past two centuries as illustrations of the histories of democracy across the Americas. The volumes bring together over 40 scholars based in Colombia, the United States, England, and Canada working in various disciplines to discuss how a country that has been consistently presented as a rarity in Latin America provides critical examples to re-examine major historical problems: republicanism and liberalism; export economies and agrarian modernization; populism and cultural politics of state formation; revolutionary and counterinsurgent Cold War violence; neoliberal reforms and urban development; popular mobilization and counterhegemonic public spheres; political ecologies and environmental struggles; and labors of memory and the challenge of reconciliation. Contributors are sensitive to questions of subjectivity and discourse, observant of ethnographic details and micro-politics, and attuned to macro-perspectives such as transnational and global histories. These volumes offer fresh perspectives on Colombia and will be of great value to those interested in Latin American and Caribbean history.

Download or read book The Politics of Drug Violence written by Angelica Duran-Martinez and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017-12-13 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the last few decades, drug trafficking organizations in Latin America became infamous for their shocking public crimes, from narcoterrorist assaults on the Colombian political system in the 1980s to the more recent wave of beheadings in Mexico. However, while these highly visible forms of public violence dominate headlines, they are neither the most common form of drug violence nor simply the result of brutality. Rather, they stem from structural conditions that vary from country to country and from era to era. In The Politics of Drug Violence, Angelica Durán-Martínez shows how variation in drug violence results from the complex relationship between state power and criminal competition. Drawing on remarkably extensive fieldwork, this book compares five cities that have been home to major trafficking organizations for the past four decades: Cali and Medellín in Colombia, and Ciudad Juárez, Culiacán, and Tijuana in Mexico. She shows that violence escalates when trafficking organizations compete and the state security apparatus is fragmented. However, when the criminal market is monopolized and the state security apparatus cohesive, violence tends to be more hidden and less frequent. The size of drug profits does not determine violence levels, and neither does the degree of state weakness. Rather, the forms and scale of violent crime derive primarily from the interplay between marketplace competition and state cohesiveness. An unprecedentedly rich empirical account of one of the worst problems of our era, the book will reshape our understanding of the forces driving organized criminal violence in Latin America and elsewhere.

Download or read book Historical Dictionary of Colombia written by Harvey F. Kline and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 591 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Colombia is the fourth largest country in South America and one of the continent's most populous nations. It has substantial oil reserves and is a major producer of gold, silver, emeralds, platinum, and coal, along with a significant number of natural resources. Colombia has also been ravaged by a decades-long violent conflict involving outlawed armed groups, drug cartels, and gross violations of human rights. Recently the country has made some progress towards improving security, and President Santos has pledged to continue to improve security by passing laws to strengthen the judicial system; a reform of the manner of distributing royalties paid by mining and petroleum companies; and a tougher law against corruption. The Historical Dictionary of Colombia covers the history of Colombia through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and a bibliography. The dictionary section has over 1,000 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Colombia.

Download or read book The Politics of Drug Violence written by Angélica Durán-Martínez and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the last few decades, drug trafficking organizations in Latin America became infamous for their shocking public crimes, from narcoterrorist assaults on the Colombian political system in the 1980s to the more recent wave of beheadings in Mexico. However, while these highly visible forms of public violence dominate headlines, they are neither the most common form of drug violence nor simply the result of brutality. Rather, they stem from structural conditions that vary from country to country and from era to era. In The Politics of Drug Violence, Angelica Dur n-Mart nez shows how variation in drug violence results from the complex relationship between state power and criminal competition. Drawing on remarkably extensive fieldwork, this book compares five cities that have been home to major trafficking organizations for the past four decades: Cali and Medell n in Colombia, and Ciudad Ju rez, Culiac n, and Tijuana in Mexico. She shows that violence escalates when trafficking organizations compete and the state security apparatus is fragmented. However, when the criminal market is monopolized and the state security apparatus cohesive, violence tends to be more hidden and less frequent. The size of drug profits does not determine violence levels, and neither does the degree of state weakness. Rather, the forms and scale of violent crime derive primarily from the interplay between marketplace competition and state cohesiveness. An unprecedentedly rich empirical account of one of the worst problems of our era, the book will reshape our understanding of the forces driving organized criminal violence in Latin America and elsewhere.

Download or read book Borderland Battles written by Annette Idler and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The post-cold war era has seen an unmistakable trend toward the proliferation of violent non-state groups-variously labeled terrorists, rebels, paramilitaries, gangs, and criminals-near borders in unstable regions especially. In Borderland Battles, Annette Idler examines the micro-dynamics among violent non-state groups and finds striking patterns: borderland spaces consistently intensify the security impacts of how these groups compete for territorial control, cooperate in illicit cross-border activities, and replace the state in exerting governance functions. Drawing on extensive fieldwork with more than 600 interviews in and on the shared borderlands of Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela, where conflict is ripe and crime thriving, Idler reveals how dynamic interactions among violent non-state groups produce a complex security landscape with ramifications for order and governance, both locally and beyond. A deep examination of how violent non-state groups actually operate with and against one another on the ground, Borderland Battles will be essential reading for anyone involved in reducing organized crime and armed conflict-some of our era's most pressing and seemingly intractable problems.

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Mexican Politics written by Roderic Ai Camp and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-02-16 with total page 839 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive view of the remarkable transformation of Mexico's political system to a democratic model. The contributors to this volume assess the most influential institutions, actors, policies and issues in the country's current evolution toward democratic consolidation.

Download or read book Global Crime 2 volumes written by Philip L. Reichel and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2019-07-08 with total page 600 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A definitive resource for understanding such far-reaching and often interconnected crimes as cyber theft, drug trafficking, human smuggling, identity theft, wildlife poaching, and sex tourism. While many international corporations have benefited from the global economy and distribution of information, globalization has also had serious negative consequences. This important reference work offers students and general readers a critical understanding of how technology, governments, political unrest, war, and economic strife contribute to an increase in global crime. This A–Z encyclopedia covers key people, events, and organizations and includes key documents that will help readers to understand the numerous problems created by the many transnational crimes that are growing in severity and frequency around the world. Entries address perpetrators and their methods; victims; who really profits; and law enforcement responses. In addition to cyber theft and sales of weapons and narcotics, the set provides a detailed look at global crimes not typically covered, such as corruption, fraudulent medicine, illegal sports betting, organ trafficking, maritime piracy, trafficking in cultural property, and wildlife and forest crime. Although some historical events and people are included, the focus is on recent and contemporary topics.

Download or read book Dangerous Liaisons written by Kevin Casas-Zamora and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2013-08-18 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The relationship between criminal syndicates and politicians has a long history, including episodes even from the earliest years of America’s colonies. But while organized crime may not get the headlines it once did in North America, the resurgence of such criminal activity in Latin America, and in some European nations, has grabbed the public’s attention. In Dangerous Liaisons noted scholars describe and analyze the role of organized crime in the financing of politics in selected democracies in Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Mexico) and in Europe (Bulgaria and Italy). The book seeks to unravel the myths that have developed around crime in these locales, while providing facts and informing the debate on how organized crime corrupts democratic institutions, especially in relation to the funding of political parties and their activities. Among the subjects studied in detail are the role of organized crime in political finance through the lens of Argentina’s presidential campaigns of 1999 and 2007; Brazil’s elected officeholders and their role in corruption; the weakness of Colombia’s democracy; the growing role of money in Costa Rica’s politics; the destructive effects of drug money on Mexican institutions; the link between organized crime—narrowly and broadly understood—and political financing in Bulgaria; and crime and political finance in Italy. The work of the scholars corrects what volume editor Kevin Casas-Zamora calls “a glaring gap in the literature on the role of organized crime in the corruption of democratic institutions.” That is, the funding of political parties and their activities—which in these cases are mostly election campaigns. The chapters not only present the evidence but also can be regarded as a call to action. Contributors include Leonardo Curzio (CISAN/UNAM), Donatella della Porta (European University Institute), Delia Ferreira Rubio (a member of the international board of directors of Transparency International), Mauricio Rubio (a researcher at the External University of Colombia), Daniel Smilov (Center for Liberal Strategies, Sofia), Bruno Wilhelm Speck (University of Campinas), and Alberto Vannucci (University of Pisa).

Download or read book Drug Trafficking Organized Crime and Violence in the Americas Today written by Bruce M. Bagley and published by University Press of Florida. This book was released on 2017-07-25 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "An extensive overview of the drug trade in the Americas and its impact on politics, economics, and society throughout the region. . . . Highly recommended."--Choice "A first-rate update on the state of the long-fought hemispheric 'war on drugs.' It is particularly timely, as the perception that the war is lost and needs to be changed has never been stronger in Latin and North America."--Paul Gootenberg, author of Andean Cocaine: The Making of a Global Drug "A must-read volume for policy makers, concerned citizens, and students alike in the current search for new approaches to forty-year-old policies largely considered to have failed."--David Scott Palmer, coauthor of Power, Institutions, and Leadership in War and Peace "A very useful primer for anyone trying to keep up with the ever-evolving relationship between drug enforcement and drug trafficking."--Peter Andreas, author of Smuggler Nation: How Illicit Trade Made America In 1971, Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs. Despite foreign policy efforts and attempts to combat supply lines, the United States has been for decades, and remains today, the largest single consumer market for illicit drugs on the planet. This volume argues that the war on drugs has been ineffective at best and, at worst, has been highly detrimental to many countries. Leading experts in the fields of public health, political science, and national security analyze how U.S. policies have affected the internal dynamics of Mexico, Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Central America, and the Caribbean islands. Together, they present a comprehensive overview of the major trends in drug trafficking and organized crime in the early twenty-first century. In addition, the editors and contributors identify emerging issues and propose several policy options to address them. This accessible and expansive volume provides a framework for understanding the limits and liabilities in the U.S.-championed war on drugs throughout the Americas.

Download or read book Latin America and the Caribbean in the Global Context written by Betty Horwitz and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-01-29 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Current perspectives on Latin America’s role in the world tend to focus on one question: Why is Latin America always falling behind? Analysts and scholars offer answers grounded in history, economic underdevelopment, or democratic consolidation. Bagley and Horwitz, however, shift the central question to ask why and to what extent does Latin America matter in world politics, both now and in the future. This text takes a holistic approach to analyze Latin America’s role in the international system. It invokes a combination of global, regional, and sub-regional levels to assess Latin America’s insertion into a globalized world, in historical, contemporary, and forward-looking perspectives. Conventional international relations theory and paradigms, introduced at the beginning, offer a useful lens through which to view four key themes: political economy, security, transnational issues and threats, and democratic consolidation. The full picture presented by this book breaks down the evolving power relationships in the hemisphere and the ways in which conflict and cooperation play out through international organizations and relations.

Download or read book Andean Cocaine written by Paul Gootenberg and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2009-06-01 with total page 463 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Illuminating a hidden and fascinating chapter in the history of globalization, Paul Gootenberg chronicles the rise of one of the most spectacular and now illegal Latin American exports: cocaine. Gootenberg traces cocaine's history from its origins as a medical commodity in the nineteenth century to its repression during the early twentieth century and its dramatic reemergence as an illicit good after World War II. Connecting the story of the drug's transformations is a host of people, products, and processes: Sigmund Freud, Coca-Cola, and Pablo Escobar all make appearances, exemplifying the global influences that have shaped the history of cocaine. But Gootenberg decenters the familiar story to uncover the roles played by hitherto obscure but vital Andean actors as well--for example, the Peruvian pharmacist who developed the techniques for refining cocaine on an industrial scale and the creators of the original drug-smuggling networks that decades later would be taken over by Colombian traffickers. Andean Cocaine proves indispensable to understanding one of the most vexing social dilemmas of the late twentieth-century Americas: the American cocaine epidemic of the 1980s and, in its wake, the seemingly endless U.S. drug war in the Andes.

Download or read book Bribes Bullets and Intimidation written by Julie Marie Bunck and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2015-06-15 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bribes, Bullets, and Intimidation is the first book to examine drug trafficking through Central America and the efforts of foreign and domestic law enforcement officials to counter it. Drawing on interviews, legal cases, and an array of Central American sources, Julie Bunck and Michael Fowler track the changing routes, methods, and networks involved, while comparing the evolution and consequences of the drug trade through Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama over a span of more than three decades. Bunck and Fowler argue that while certain similar factors have been present in each of the Central American states, the distinctions among these countries have been equally important in determining the speed with which extensive drug trafficking has taken hold, the manner in which it has evolved, the amounts of different drugs that have been transshipped, and the effectiveness of antidrug efforts.

Download or read book Loving Pablo Hating Escobar written by Virginia Vallejo and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2018-05-29 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now a major motion picture! Pablo Escobar was one of the most terrifying criminal minds of the last century. In the decade before his death in 1993, he reigned as the head of a multinational cocaine industry and brought the Colombian state to its knees, killing thousands of politicians, media personalities, police, and unarmed citizens. In the 1980s, Virginia Vallejo was Colombia’s most famous television celebrity: a top-rated anchorwoman and a twice-divorced socialite who had been courted by the country’s four wealthiest men. In 1982, she interviewed Pablo Escobar on her news program, and soon after, they began a discreet—albeit stormy—romantic relationship. During their five-year affair, Escobar would show Vallejo the vulnerability of presidents, senators, and military leaders seeking to profit from the drug trade. From Vallejo’s privileged perspective and her ability to navigate the global corridors of wealth and high society, Escobar gained the insight to master his manipulation of Colombia’s powerful elite and media. Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar chronicles the birth of Colombia’s drug cartels: the kidnappers, the guerilla groups, and the paramilitary organizations. It is, above everything, a great love story—a deep and painful journey through a forbidden relationship—that gives us an intimate vision of the legendary drug baron who left his mark on Colombia, Latin America, the United States, and the world forever.

Download or read book La guerra contra las drogas en el mundo andino written by and published by Libros del Zorzal. This book was released on 2009 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: El conjunto de trabajos de este volumen revela el nivel alcanzado por el fenómeno de las drogas en el mundo andino, así como su significado en términos de las relaciones de Brasil, Estados Unidos y la Unión Europea con el área. Todos los ensayos indican la complejidad del fenómeno, los magros resultados de las políticas antidrogas y las frustraciones que ha producido la perpetuación de una estrategia antinarcóticos decididamente coactiva: “La guerra contra las drogas”. El presente libro comprueba que este paradigma prohibicionista debe reevaluarse.

Download or read book Truth Justice and Reconciliation in Colombia written by Fabio Andres Diaz Pabon and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-05-11 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The signing of the peace agreements between the FARC-EP and the Colombian Government in late November 2016 has generated new prospects for peace in Colombia, opening the possibility of redressing the harm inflicted on Colombians by Colombians. Talking about peace and transitional justice requires us to think about how to operationalize peace agreements to promote justice and coexistence for peace. This volume brings together reflections by Colombian academics and practitioners alongside pieces provided by researchers and practitioners in other countries where transitional justice initiatives have taken place (Bosnia and Herzegovina, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Peru). This volume has been written in the south, by the south, for the south. The book engages with the challenges ahead for the coming generations of Colombians. Rivers of ink have dealt with the end goals of transitional justice, but victims require us to take the quest for human rights beyond the normative realm of theorizing justice and into the practical realm of engaging how to implement justice initiatives. The tension between theory—the legislative frameworks guaranteeing human rights—and practice—the realization of these ideas—will frame Colombia’s success (or failure) in consolidating the implementation of the peace agreements with the FARC-EP.

Download or read book Yo soy el hijo del cartel de Cali written by William Rodríguez Abadía and published by AGUILAR. This book was released on 2014-04-30 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Un testimonio único y estremecedor de uno de los periodos más terribles de la historia de Colombia Yo soy el hijo del cartel de Cali es el testimonio de William Rodríguez Abadía, hijo y sobrino de Miguel y Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, fundadores de una de las organizaciones criminales más temidas de Colombia en la década de los noventa. Por primera vez y con un tono íntimo, el heredero de uno de los emporios criminales más grandes de América cuenta cómo se vivió al interior de la familia Rodríguez Orejuela la encarnizada lucha contra Pablo Escobar y el agotamiento de los recursos para lograr impedir las órdenes de extradición que pesaban en su contra. Tras cuatro años de vivir en la clandestinidad y luego cumplir pena de cárcel, el autor pone en riesgo su seguridad y la de su familia para describir en este testimonio revelador, los entresijos del funcionamiento del cartel, la compra de conciencias y la penetración de la organización criminal en las más altas esferas de la vida política, económica y social de Colombia. El lector conocerá a una familia dominada por el pacto de silencio del padre y el tío y encontrará respuestas a muchas interrogantes que van desde el vínculo entre el fútbol y el narcotráfico hasta los favores políticos y el Proceso ocho mil.

Download or read book There Are No Dead Here written by Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno and published by Bold Type Books. This book was released on 2018-02-27 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The bloody story of the rise of paramilitaries in Colombia, told through three characters -- a fearless activist, a dogged journalist, and a relentless investigator -- whose lives intersected in the midst of unspeakable terror. Colombia's drug-fueled cycle of terror, corruption, and tragedy did not end with Pablo Escobar's death in 1993. Just when Colombians were ready to move past the murderous legacy of the country's cartels, a new, bloody chapter unfolded. In the late 1990s, right-wing paramilitary groups with close ties to the cocaine business carried out a violent expansion campaign, massacring, raping, and torturing thousands. There Are No Dead Here is the harrowing story of three ordinary Colombians who risked everything to reveal the collusion between the new mafia and much of the country's military and political establishment: JesúríValle, a human rights activist who was murdered for exposing a dark secret; IváVeláuez, a quiet prosecutor who took up Valle's cause and became an unlikely hero; and Ricardo Calderóa dogged journalist who is still being targeted for his revelations. Their groundbreaking investigations landed a third of the country's Congress in prison and fed new demands for justice and peace that Colombia's leaders could not ignore. Taking readers from the sweltering Medellístreets where criminal investigators were hunted by assassins, through the countryside where paramilitaries wiped out entire towns, and into the corridors of the presidential palace in BogotáThere Are No Dead Here is an unforgettable portrait of the valiant men and women who dared to stand up to the tide of greed, rage, and bloodlust that threatened to engulf their country.