The Sumapaz region and irregular warfare in Colombia. Political violence 1948-2008

Abstract

The Sumapaz region has been a center for peasant organizations and social mobilization. Simultaneously, different manifestations of the armed violence that takes place in Colombia and their multiple peace processes have impacted the region across time. This simultaneity of mobilization and violence has defined the history and memory of the habitants of this region making of this region a reference point for the understanding of the local, national even global dynamics between war and peace around Cold War. From the 1950’s and within the framework of the bipartisan civil war, their aftermath with the consociationalist agreement of the Frente Nacional, and within the framework for the continuum of armed violence, violent repertoires have been deployed in this area. This has impacted the history and the memory of the inhabitants of this area. This article aims to understand the way in which this violence has taken place, and how irregular warfare emerged in the Sumapaz area.