Population: 44,379,598 (July 2007 est.)
Regime History: Colombia declared independence from Spain on July 20, 1810, with recognition of independence on August 7, 1819. In the 1940s, after a period of relative political stability, the assassination of Liberal Presidential candidate Jorge Eliécer Gaitán in 1948 led to a decade of civil war. This assassination led to massive riots in Bogotá (Known as El Bogotazo), and the violence from these riots spread throughout the country and claimed the lives of 180,000 Colombians, in an episode known as La Violencia. La Violencia was ended by the creation of “The National Front,” which allowed the Liberal and Conservative parties to govern jointly. The presidency would be determined by an alternating conservative and liberal president every 4 years for 16 years; the two parties would have parity in all other elective offices. During the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s and 1990s powerful and violent drug cartels emerged, which financed and influenced different illegally armed groups throughout the political spectrum. In recent decades, not only the drug trade, but also guerrilla groups (such as FARC) and right-wing paramilitary groups have destabilized Colombia through murder, kidnappings, and the control of vast amounts of territory in Colombia. In the late 1990s, President Andrés Pastrana began an initiative named “Plan Colombia”, with the intent to end the armed conflict while promoting a strong anti-narcotic strategy. The current President, Álvaro Uribe, who was elected on a platform of applying military pressure to the FARC, has had both successes and failures in this goal. On the one hand, a marked decrease in kidnappings and homicides has occurred. On the other hand, his administration has come under fire from civil rights groups who have accused him of supplying money and arms to the right-wing paramilitaries in order to fight the FARC. It is argued that the tacit government support of the paramilitaries led to major human rights abuses. This concern is shared by Democrats in the United States Congress, who, in 2007, have threatened to withhold military aid to Colombia and scuttle a free-trade deal as a result of this scandal.
Economy: Colombia's economy has experienced positive growth over the past three years despite a serious armed conflict. The economy continues to improve in part because of austere government budgets, focused efforts to reduce public debt levels, an export-oriented growth strategy, an improved security situation in the country, and high commodity prices. Ongoing economic problems facing President Uribe range from reforming the pension system to reducing high unemployment, and to achieving congressional passage of a fiscal transfers reform; furthermore, new exploration is needed to offset declining oil production.
GDP per capita: purchasing power parity - $8,600 (2006 est.)
Population below poverty line: 49.2% (2005)
Unemployment rate: 11.1% (2006 est.)
Ethnic Groups: 58% mestizo, 20% white, 14% mulatto, 4% black, 3% mixed black-Amerindian, 1% Amerindian