Imperial Pretexts
The real reasons behind US intervention in Colombia
by Doug Stokes; October 14, 2003
This article explains how we can account for the continuity of US counter-insurgency (CI) in post-Cold War Colombia. I make three main arguments in relation to this continuity. First, I argue that the US has considerable economic interests in South America which necessitates the preservation of “stability geared to those interests. As part of this impulse to maintain stability, US CI has been employed in Colombia to pacify Colombia’s armed groups and progressive elements of civil society. Second, the US has a considerable economic and strategic interest in maintaining access to South American oil. Furthermore, the desire to maintain access to South American oil has increased as the US’s traditional oil suppliers in the Middle East have increasingly become potentially unstable following the two Gulf Wars. Third, I argue that the legacy of the CI ideology continues to effect the way in which insurgency is perceived by both Colombian and US planners, and as such contributes to the continuity in militarised solutions to Colombia’s problems. In sum, I identify three reasons for the continuity of US sponsored counterinsurgency in Colombia. These are related to US strategic and economic interests and a dominant ideology that has continued to function after the Cold War. I do not wish to argue that one of these areas is more important than the other, or indeed that these reasons provide an exhaustive set of causal explanations for US policy. I do think, however, that all of these factors feed into the US policy process and are the principal factors underlying US CI in Colombia
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