John Otis

Colombia’s Controversial Coca Spraying Could Be The Next Drug War Casualty

The US backs Colombian coca field fumigation, but here’s a host of reasons some say it’s another counternarcotics flop, while others say it’s actually working.

John Otis
By John Otis
Colombia Drugs

BOGOTA, Colombia — Last October an American anti-drug pilot was fumigating Colombian coca fields when Marxist guerrillas opened fire at his crop duster. Two bullets hit his left leg but the pilot managed to land safely in a cow pasture. He was lucky. Three weeks earlier, rebel gunfire brought down another anti-drug crop-dusting plane, killing

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Colombia’s FARC May Soon Be On The Ballot

The FARC rebels have tried to play party politics before — and it ended in murder. Nearly 30 years later, will the guerrillas make a safer swap of guns for ballots?

John Otis
By John Otis

BOGOTA, Colombia — Ongoing peace talks in Cuba between the Colombian government and FARC guerrillas have included foreign rebels-turned-politicians from Northern Ireland, El Salvador, Nicaragua and South Africa. Their message to Colombia’s largest guerrilla group has boiled down to this: “If we can do it, so can you.” Yet even though one of

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Colombians Face Deadly Risks Of Returning To Stolen Land

Millions of people have been displaced by the decades-old internal conflict. Those attempting to reclaim their land are walking a dangerous path.

John Otis
By John Otis
Buried up to his head, a community leader stages a protest at a Catholic Church in poor neighborhood of southern Bogota, Colombia Wednesday, June 12, 2002. (AP Photo/Javier Galeano)

BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombia is a land of grandiose legal norms. Take the South American country’s 1991 constitution, which is a soaring masterwork promoting broad citizen participation, equal rights and peace. Unfortunately, Colombia — which remains profoundly unequal and torn by a half-century-old guerrilla war — is also a land where such

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Can Colombia End Its Decades-Old Guerrilla War?

When the Colombian government and Marxist rebels begin face-to-face peace talks Monday in Cuba, the people of the South American country’s northern Choco department will follow the negotiations closely. The guerrilla war that began in 1964 affects them nearly every day. Even with peace talks imminent, the area is a war zone. Over the weekend, for […]

John Otis
By John Otis
In this Monday, June 23, 2008, file photo, a member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC stands with his face covered at a military base in Cali, Colombia. (AP Photo/Christian Escobar Mora)

When the Colombian government and Marxist rebels begin face-to-face peace talks Monday in Cuba, the people of the South American country’s northern Choco department will follow the negotiations closely. The guerrilla war that began in 1964 affects them nearly every day. Even with peace talks imminent, the area is a war zone. Over the weekend,

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