LegiStorm

Summary:

Colombia is the third-most-populous country in Latin America, with roughly 47 million inhabitants. A key U.S. ally in the region, Colombia has endured an internal armed conflict for half a century. Drug trafficking has fueled the violence by funding both left-wing and right-wing armed groups. In the late 1990s, some analysts feared Colombia—threatened by a multi-sided, violent conflict—would become a failed state. The Colombian government countered those predictions, however, through an evolving security strategy known as Plan Colombia, originally a six-year program, but now generally applied to Colombian initiatives carried out over 16 years in close cooperation with the United States. Focused initially on counternarcotics, and later counterterrorism, the partnership of Plan Colombia has broadened to include more robust efforts for sustainable development, human rights, trade, regional security, and many other areas of cooperation. Some observers maintain that citizen investment in Colombia's recovery, through such means as a security tax, and the commitment of the country's leaders were critical to the Plan's success. The government's long-term strategy has moved from defeating insurgents in combat and consolidating the government's gains with its "whole-of-government" approach to a new stage of preparing for an anticipated post-conflict period. Colombia has achieved significant gains in citizen security and economic stability. Despite its progress, many observers continue to raise concerns about human rights conditions in the country. Current President Juan Manuel Santos, first elected in 2010, launched peace talks in 2012 with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country's main leftist insurgent group and Latin America's best-financed guerrilla organization. Although previous negotiations with the FARC had failed, this effort with a militarily diminished FARC has endured over three years and more than 45 rounds of talks. By the end of 2015, negotiators had resolved four topics in a six-point agenda. In September 2015, negotiators announced that both teams had reached a mutually agreed deadline for signature on a final accord of March 23, 2016, and a breakthrough on transitional justice and victims' reparations that was finalized in December 2015. The remaining issues to be settled include the terms for a bilateral ceasefire and other steps to definitively end the conflict, and how the accord will be approved and verified. If the negotiating teams meet the spring 2016 deadline—a goal that many continue to see as ambitious—a plebiscite potentially would be held to sanction the accord. The FARC, however, has objected to this method to ratify the deal. Colombia and the United States have one of the closest partnerships in the Western Hemisphere. Between FY2000 and FY2016, the U.S. Congress appropriated more than $10 billion to fund Plan Colombia and its follow-on programs. However, since FY2008, with the tightening of foreign aid budgets and the planned nationalization of Plan Colombia-related programs by the Colombian government, U.S. assistance levels have declined. In the FY2016 omnibus appropriations measure (P.L. 114-113), foreign aid from the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development amounted to about $300 million, nearly identical to the estimated level in FY2015. If a peace accord is concluded, Members of Congress may have to consider whether aid should be increased or distributed differently. For some, building a sustainable peace in Colombia may require U.S. support for land restitution, aid to conflict victims, and efforts to fully bring the Colombian government into formerly lawless areas. On the other hand, some observers, weighing the global demands for U.S. assistance, could determine that Colombia, as a middle income country with considerable capacity, could undertake such reconstruction activities on its own. President Santos has continued the market-oriented, economic policies of prior administrations. During his first term, the U.S. Congress approved the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, which went into force in April 2012. The United States remains Colombia's top trade partner. After several years of annual growth exceeding 4%, one of the strongest and steadiest expansion rates in the region, Colombia's growth rate declined to slightly less than 3% in 2015 by most estimates. The decline is largely attributed to lower earnings from energy exports, as Colombia is Latin America's fourth-largest oil producer. Colombia's uneven development, continued high levels of rural poverty, and concentrated land ownership have contributed to internal conflict. Precise costs of any post-peace accord development remain uncertain. In 2016, the chance that the Colombian public may approve a peace deal has raised expectations of the potential benefits of ending the half-century armed conflict. The effort to demobilize the FARC and begin their eventual reintegration into Colombian society was spurred in January 2016 by the U.N. Security Council vote to send a monitoring team to oversee disarmament activities if a peace accord is signed. A campaign to block approval of a peace accord by former president Álvaro Uribe, his followers, and other peace accord opponents makes it difficult to predict how or if a peace accord will ultimately be ratified. Some observers warn of several other obstacles to a sustainable peace that still remain. However, the proposed foreign assistance program announced by the Obama Administration in early February known as Paz Colombia suggests that the U.S. government is optimistic that the accord will take effect. On February 4, 2016, President Obama met with President Santos at the White House and called for a new era of partnership between the two nations. This report analyzes the political and economic conditions in Colombia and examines major issues in U.S.-Colombian relations that are of interest to Congress. See also CRS Report R42982, Peace Talks in Colombia.