Our current policy in Colombia has made enormous progress, after Clinton's policy virtually turned the country over to FARC (creating the need for the paramilitaries, since Colombia's own military could do nothing to protect its citizens). The paramilitaries are disarming at record rates right now, although various foreign NGOs are objecting to the amnesty being offered them.
The same amnesty is available to FARC members, btw, and some of them have taken advantage of it - but I think they're holding out to see what happens in our elections. If Bush gets reelected, their goose is cooked and you can look for many more of them to take advantage of the amnest; and at that point, the remaining paramilitaries will do the same.
The paramilitaries were formed because the military and the government were on the defensive. The army couldn't even protect themselves, much less the people. There have been several high-profile slaughters of police and soldiers even during peace talks, maybe especially during peace talks. The FARC loved humiliating peace envoys by having a huge slaughter occur during a well publicized visit. So private Colombians organized the "Self Defense" units to take the fight to the FARC.
The military, at least until recently, used the paras as shock troops, to "pacify" an area before they would dare to enter it.
The work we have done with the military over the last couple of years seems to be making the paras less necessary, and if Bush manages to get reelected, I expect to see the country being progressively taken back from the FARC. You will remember that during the last half of the nineties the FARC held an autonomous region the size of Switzerland with the acquiescence of the government, where the army dared not go. No longer.
If Kerry wins, expect to see Colombia blackmailed to prosecute the paras for war crimes, ignoring the fact that FARC lives by assassination and kidnapping and drug running, and fear only the paras.
Well said.