Conference Program

In 2016, the Colombian government signed a peace agreement with the FARC insurgent group that, although it is an important step, it was not decisive for the final solution to the internal armed conflict. Seven years later, implementation faces institutional challenges and political obstacles in the most affected regions, and violence against social leaders and the civilian population continues. Despite this, the current government began new peace talks with insurgent and armed groups in the country, under what it called the search for total peace.

Along these lines, this paper questions and analyzes the security challenges in Colombia derived from the peace agreement and the negotiation with military groups outside the law, as well as its implications in border areas, especially in those territories where Violence remains intense. It is assumed that security governance dynamics pose hybrid and differentiated spaces of interaction between various actors, especially in border areas, generating new difficulties to existing ones, as well as new expressions of insecurity. To overcome violence, if it is not solved in a coordinated manner between various actors, the social problems derived from the conflict will tend to worsen.

Colombia is one of the most important countries in Latin America, a member of many international and regional organizations, and an important partner of the United States in the region. However, the civil war going on since the 1964 had a significant impact on the development of this country. The causes of this conflict include, among others the lack of presence (or little presence) of the state institutions in some regions of the country. These areas were controlled by various parties to the conflict, including the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) or the National Liberation Army (ELN).

The civil war officially ended in 2016 after the signing of the peace agreement between the Government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP). Most FARC-EP members withdrew from the areas under their control. These areas have become an area of struggle for influence between many organizations. Some of them are criminal organizations whose activities destabilize the situation in the country.

The proposal concerns the causes and effects of the spread of armed groups in Colombia in recent years. It also refers to the actions taken by the authorities of this country, especially the administration of President Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego, in terms of regaining territories controlled by criminal organizations.

Having witnessed more than five decades of civil war, Colombia has experienced massive protests related to political and social changes tried to implement by the government during the pandemic. Large masses poured onto the streets and protested the Colombian government's tax reform and new health system decision starting from the last days of April 2021. One of the prominent features of these protests is Colombians' widespread use of social media to announce police brutality. Although Colombians succeeded in taking a step back to their governments within the first five days of protests, this did not terminate the protests in the streets; instead, it increased their severity. Why did the 2021 Colombian protests increase after the government announced concessions? I based my argument on the state repression literature and aimed to examine traces of online and offline repression. Firstly, I collected 261,630 Tweets containing the #SOSColombia hashtag from April 27 to May 27, 2021. Secondly, I will employ quantitative text analysis to detect the main topics, hashtags, and mentions related to protests. I will also examine these tweets in terms of protests, riots, violence against civilians, and causalities based on the ACLED. This paper will contribute to social movements and online activism literature by investigating the success of using social media during the protests and protesters' demands employing computational social science methods.

In 2023, Argentina celebrated 40 years of uninterrupted democracy. Throughout these years, the country has managed to set a global example by beginning the process of accounting for the crimes committed during the military dictatorship (1976-1983). Despite these accomplishments, quantitative data from democracy indices point to a number of challenges that have persisted over the past four decades. The economic collapse, national bankruptcy, and socio-political crisis of 2001 were particularly impactful. One of its long-lasting consequences, coupled with the inability of the political elites to respond satisfactorily to the demands of the people, is socio-political polarization. Commonly referred to as la grieta (the crack), it boils down to the clash between supporters and opponents of Kirchnerism, the predominant Peronist political movement associated with the presidencies of Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007) and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2007-2015).

The paper aims to examine how polarization, the effect of the country's socio-economic instability and the elites' inability to deal with it, affects the quality of democracy by increasing its fragility. It will examine how polarization contributed to the victory of Javier Milei, an anti-establishment populist candidate in the 2023 presidential race. It will challenge the hypothesis that this event could herald the collapse of entrenched political divisions, and outline the long-term consequences of radicalization for civic trust and support for democracy in Argentina. It will show how polarization-induced negative voting, rather than leading to systemic change, can lead to the weakening of democratic institutions and to a further erosion of trust in democracy itself.

Currently, there is a noticeable trend where an increasing number of politicians in Latin America are attempting to implement solutions inspired by Nayib Bukele's policies in El Salvador. The goal of his reforms was to pull El Salvador out of the spiral of violence. For instance, he has built the biggest prison in this part of the Western Hemisphere. Additionally, he declared a 'war against drugs.' Actually, citizens are content with the results of his policy, even if he is unrelentingly violating human rights.

Presently, one of the most influenced politicians is Daniel Noboa, the President of Ecuador. He is working towards addressing the issues currently faced by Ecuador, including violence, gang wars, drug trafficking, and poverty. The focus of my speech will be to highlight those activities of Noboa that are modeled after Bukele's policies. Additionally, I will showcase other individuals in power who have been influenced by Bukele. My hypothesis is that the increasing influence of Bukele on politicians in Latin America is conditioned by the superimposing problem of drug trafficking and violence