Los Malditos Robin Hood: How Cocaine Altered the Trajectories of FARC and M19

• In Event: The Politics of Confronting Criminal Violence

Abstract

Colombia is home to one of the longest running civil conflicts in the world, a melting pot of competing interests, historical grievances, immense illicit wealth, and a broad spectrum of actors. A significant body of work exists on the interaction of these elements, ranging from the efficacy of counterterrorism operations to responding to collective trauma. However, a gap remains on how violent non-state political actors engage with criminal activity; existing research suggests that criminal diversification simply erodes the ideological commitments of insurgent groups, transforming them from challengers of the political system to gangs. This argument overlooks how agency on the part of the terrorist group alters ideological attrition, and how intentional diversification may actually lead to a more protracted struggle. Using new ethnographic fieldwork and process tracing, I use the contrasting case studies of Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP) and Movimiento 19 de Abril (M19) to explore how intentional and structured criminal diversification extends the lifespan of a guerrilla organization. I find that the policy window created by the rise of Colombia’s cocaine cartels in the 1980s led to FARC’s intentional decision to ally with criminal networks because they viewed cocaine as a lesser threat to the people of Colombia than the existing government. In contrast, M19 took the opposing view, demobilizing and entering the political system, assimilating to the degree that a former M19 leader challenged for the presidency in 2018. The diverging paths of these two very similar groups can be directly linked to their strategic choice to engage, or not, with criminal activity, and provides valuable insights for future counterinsurgency policymaking.

Author

• Katharine Petrich, American University