The Republic of Colombia was formally established in 1855. Over the next 100 years, Colombian politics were dominated by the Conservative-Liberal feud, which often broke out into warfare. Periods of democratic government alternated with dictatorships. There were occasions, however, when the two parties were able to unite to see off a common threat. The 1970 election was a turning point in Colombia’s recent history. Disaffected members of ANAPO (Alianza Nacional Popular) formed a guerrilla movement known as Movimiento 19 de Abril (M-19), which initiated a 15-year-long guerrilla campaign against the government and acquired other left-wing groups.

Meanwhile, a third potent force emerged during the 1980s, in the form of organized drug traffickers (known as cartels). Large sums of money began to be turned into political power and leading politicians increasingly became tainted by connections with drug money. By 1998, the country was in the grip of the struggle between the government, traffickers, right-wing paramilitaries and left-wing guerrillas. Leftist guerrillas created ‘liberated areas’, within which government forces were unable or unwilling to operate. The US administration became infuriated and, in 2000, the US Clinton administration unveiled ‘Plan Colombia’, a massive military support program for the Colombian armed forces.

Although portrayed as the latest phase of the ‘war on drugs’, it is clear that the program is essentially political and strategic – the objective is to destroy FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and its allies. The Bush administration inherited ‘Plan Colombia’ after victory at the US November 2000 poll and endorsed the plan with some modifications. Its first effects became apparent the following year, when military forces retook part of the former ‘liberated zone’. The new hard line adopted by the government was confirmed in May 2002, when the right-winger Alvaro Uribe, who favors all-out war against the left-wing guerrillas, won a comfortable victory at the presidential election. Uribe immediately declared a partial state of emergency, allowing him to impose security measures by decree. In early 2003, American special forces troops became directly engaged for the first time in the eastern province of Arauca.

Yet what has endured in the midst of such ever-changing, violent proceedings is a calm and beautiful landscape that has much to offer, from nature (much is covered by the Amazon Basin; large lakes are surrounded by mountains; a Caribbean coastline twinkles with azure water) to man-made wonders (archaeological digs unearth historical wealth; colonial houses adorn the towns; the Guajira Peninsula is home to more than 100,000 nomadic Indians). There must be hope that the political climate becomes just as clement very soon.

Geography
Colombia is situated in South America, bordered to the north by the Caribbean, to the northwest by Panama, to the west by the Pacific Ocean, to the southwest by Ecuador and to the south by Peru, to the northeast by Venezuela and to the southeast by Brazil. The Andes Mountains extend into the country in three ranges running south to north, dipping finally into the lowlands of the Caribbean coast. Along the southern part of the Pacific coast run wide, marshy lowlands rising to a relatively low but rugged mountain chain. East of this range, the southwestern coastal lowlands extend in a low trough running from the port of Buenaventura on the Pacific coast to the Caribbean. East of this rise the slopes of the Western Cordillera which, with the Central Cordillera range, runs north to the Caribbean lowlands from Ecuador, separated by a valley, filled in the south by volcanic ash to a height of 2,500m (8,202ft). Further north lies the fertile Cauca Valley, which extends to Cartago where it becomes a deep gorge running between the Cordilleras to the Caribbean lowlands. The Eastern Cordillera, the longest range, rises north of the Ecuadorean border and runs north then northeast towards Venezuela. Flat grassy prairies in the east along with the jungles and towering rainforests of the Amazon make up over half the country’s area. There are also two small islands, San Andrés and Providencia, located 700km (430 miles) north of the Colombian coast, that have belonged to Colombia since 1822.