National security of Colombia
[1] The two countries have not allowed the occasional security incidents involving Colombian guerrillas and paramilitaries along their long common border to escalate into a serious issue since both nations concluded a bilateral free-trade agreement in 1991.
[1] Cross-border trade links between Colombia and Venezuela were solidified in July 2004, although the relationship was previously strong, with an agreement to build a US$320 million natural gas pipeline between the two countries.
[citation needed] Despite endemic violence stemming from left-wing guerrilla activity, paramilitary groups, and drug traffickers, constitutional order and institutional stability have prevailed.
[1][2] Most Colombian government institutions have a reputation for inefficient, corrupt, and bureaucratic management, with the notable exceptions of the Central Bank, Ministry of Finance, and some other agencies responsible for economic policy formulation.
In 1996–98 the FARC and ELN extended their presence in the national territory and scored some strategic gains against the poorly led armed forces by besieging and easily overrunning isolated military garrisons.
[citation needed] The Pastrana government responded in November 1998 by granting the FARC a 51,000-square-kilometer demilitarized zone (DMZ) in southeast Colombia as a concession in exchange for beginning peace talks.
[citation needed] The president’s plan includes the formation of platoons of “peasant soldiers,” or locally recruited men, to provide guard duty around previously unguarded municipalities in support of the police and regular troops.
The alliance has not made any significant difference yet, but in the long term, the two groups pose a much greater threat jointly than they do separately, as the military power of the FARC and the political strength of the ELN complement each other.
At January 2009, estimates point that the policy of the Uribe Administration of demobilization promises and intense pressure from the Army has left half of the recruits the FARC had at the start of the decade.
Nevertheless, at the start of October 2004, the AUC announced unilaterally a partial disarmament, with 3,000 of its fighters located along the border with Venezuela disarming by the end of the year, and now the entire organization is demobilized.
