Talk:Colombian conflict

Changes in the causes

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I just made some edits on the page's history section. I felt the page lacked a more succinct list of the causes of the conflict. I listed some of the main causes but feel free to add more. The conflict is such a complex social phenomenon that a list of causes will never be enough, yet I listed the ones that I felt were more relevant for an audience that does not have any knowledge of the conflict or Colombia's history. By also keeping in mind that my audience probably does not have any deep knowledge of the socio-cultural factors and history of Colombia I had to make some generalizations. For instance, in the list of causes, I generalized that the right-wing and capitalist movements are represented by the government meanwhile the left-wings are represented by the armed groups. This was a gross generalization that is particularly unfair in current Colombia, where there are now left-wing political parties in the Congress. Yet, I still think that it holds true in the context of the beginning of the conflict. I also expanded on the diverse and oftentimes competing theories on the date of the start of the armed conflict with the aim of highlighting how complex the conflict is and how still to this day there is still a lot of things that Colombians do not understand and fully comprehend of its history. Finally, I also expanded and corrected some things about the UP (Union Patriotica). I felt that the information was not deep enough and that due to recent research done by an amazing organization like the CNMH it was worth trying to explain something that had deadly consequences for the Colombian democracy.

Please feel free to reach out if there are any concerns with my edits.

Updating of the report based on findings of the Truth Commission Report

Hi I think we should start updating this page (and other pages related to the topic, based on the new facts that have come to light in the newly published Truth Commission Report. Starting with the number of Casualties, below being the quote from the report presenting the updated count after the extensive investigation done by the truth commission:

hecho y del acuerdo de paz irreversible entre el Estado y las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP)– no ha logrado seguridad para la vida de los ciudadanos, las instituciones, la naturaleza ni la economía. Lo demuestran más de nueve millones de víctimas, de las cuales el 90 % son civiles: cerca de 450.664 personas muertas y 121.768 desaparecidas, así como millones desplazadas, muchas hoy en el exilio, y miles secuestradas, violadas o torturadas. Las violaciones de los derechos humanos y las infracciones al derecho internacional humanitario (DIH) han afectado directamente al menos al 20 % de la población colombiana. Casi ninguna familia colombiana ha escapado a la violencia. Aunque la mayor victimización y daños los han sufrido personas y comunidades campesinas, así como indígenas y afrocolombianas, mujeres, niñas y niños, la violencia también ha afectado a sectores con poder político y económico. Miles de millones de dólares utilizados y perdidos en la guerra, tierras abandonadas, infraestructura, oleoductos y empresas destruidas. Esto se da en un país que tiene, posiblemente, el aparato de seguridad y defensa militar y policivo más grande, costoso y mejor entrenado y dotado de todo el continente, después del de Estados Unidos.

BasilLeaf (talk) 01:09, 29 June 2022 (UTC)

Start date in first sentence

The lead claims that the conflict began precisely on 27 May 1964. But the provided source only claims that date as the date of an attack on Marquetalia -- and against the guerrillas found there. Since there were guerrillas, there was presumably also conflict in some sense before that date. So why have we settled on that one? The 27 May attack motivated the formation of the FARC, but why should that be interpreted by Wikipedia as the start date of the conflict?

I think either a better source needs to be found to support this date as the start of the conflict, or it should be removed. The lead used to say the conflict began in the "mid-1960s". It's perhaps worth noting that the Spanish article just says 1960, but i.m.o. the sources there don't really seem back that up either. GanzKnusper (talk) 20:35, 16 February 2026 (UTC)