The Waves Of Terrorism And The Situation Of Colombia

The waves of terrorism and the situation of Colombia

“It is said that if you know others and you know yourself, or in a hundred battles you will be in danger;If you don’t know others, but you know yourself, you will lose one battle and win another;If you don’t know others or know yourself, you will be in danger in each battle." Sun Tzu

The current enemy in Colombia is terrorism, regardless of the name of its actors, the country must have a broader margin of knowledge about this scourge, there is a great need to learn from the experiences of both allies and enemies;How has its evolution been?, What types of terrorism are?, What tactics do you use?, Where did you start?, Where is it located? , Where do you direct?, What is your doctrine? They are some of the questions that must be asked.

The objective is to expand the concept of terrorism and for this purpose a study based on the work of the Professor of Political Science and terrorism expert at the University of California, Faculty of Los Angeles, David C. Raport. After the attacks of the Twin Towers.

Professor David C. Raport presents four waves of modern terrorism: however, initially we must take into account what is a wave?, For Raport: “It is a cycle of activity in a given period of time, characterized by stages of expansion and contraction. A fundamental characteristic of the wave is its international character;Similar activities occur in different countries, and are also driven by a similar predominant energy that shapes and characterizes relationships between participating groups ”.

First wave: anarchist wave, is exposed as the first experience of global terrorism in history, began in 1880, lasted about 40 years and radically transformed police organizations. They were continued by three similar, consecutive expressions, and sometimes overlapping. The outstanding moment of the first wave occurs in the so -called "Golden Age of the murder", when monarchs and prime ministers were dejected, one after another, usually by murderers who moved with agility through international borders. Teodoro Roosevelt took the opportunity to launch the first international effort to eliminate terrorism: “Anarchy is a crime against the entire human race, and all humanity should unite against anarchists. Their crimes must be converted into crimes against the laws of nations, such as piracy or that form of appropriation of men known as slave trafficking;Because it is a much more black infamy than any other. This should be declared by all treaties among civilized powers. These treaties would give the federal government the power to deal with crime ”. Teodoro Roosevelt, first annual message, December 3, 1901.

Second wave: anticolonial wave, began in 1920 and in 1960 he had greatly disappeared. It was rooted at the decline of World War II, and was stimulated by the objective of national liberation. Terrorism, sometimes, is used within the frameBritish. The purpose of terrorism during the second wave was to achieve the national independence of European colonial powers.

Third wave: Ola New Left, started at the end of 1960 and began to dissipate in the 90s, leaving some groups in Colombia, Spain, France, Sri Lanka and Peru. In Colombia, thanks to the signing of the peace agreement, it is ending with the third wave of terrorism, wave that normally did not last so much in other places, this probably due to the cycle of life, where parents’ dreams lose their appeal for the appeal forchildren, the cycle of the lives of the waves does not correspond to those of organizations;Organizations normally dissipate before the wave, although sometimes an organization survives its wave case occurred in Colombia.

Fourth wave: religious wave, began in 1979 and if the modus operandi of the other waves follows, it still has twenty to twenty five years to disappear. Islam is the most important religion in this wave followed by Hinduism and Judaism. Religion determines each objective and tactics. Each religious tradition produced its own type of terrorist and sometimes its tactics were so uniform that they seem to be a kind of ritual.

The main objective of each wave is the revolution, however, the revolution can be observed differently in each wave. Starting from this main objective;With the revolution it is inferred in a radical restoration of authority and this objective is combined with efforts to create a new state destroying two or more existing. Much of the terrorist organizations have understood the revolution as the separation or free national determination, that is to say that each people must govern themselves.

A terrorist is not a combatant for freedom and a terrorist is not a guerrilla. A terrorist is a terrorist, no matter if you sympathize or not with the objective that the terrorist is trying to achieve, no matter whether or not to sympathize with the government that the terrorist is trying to change, the acts and their means makes it a terrorist. Terrorist actions inevitably produce feelings of anger and frustration.

Within the perspective of the revolutionary groups it is observed that they were not heard through pamphlets, flyers, brochures, books, meetings, conferences, manifestations and marches and even the revolutionaries described their failed attempts to be heard as ‘outline of vain words’ , they decided to look for other means to be heard, a new era, a new form of "communication" was necessary, they wanted to be heard and deserve respect and they were going to achieve it at any price, three fundamental agents can be identified in terrorism, First the authors, second the victims and the third agent the audience; full of hope of achieving your goals, hope that was overexcited, hope that it is always an indispensable lubricant in the activity of the rebels; They adopted terror as a means of communication, which no one could ignore or ignore this, achieving with repeated acts of horror the polarization necessary to generate a revolution. The terrorist organisms rarely achieve their original purposes, in Latin America the revolutionary groups repeat a visible pattern, abandoned the countryside, the jungle and reached the city where their terrorist tactics were largely noticed. In conclusion, terrorism is a strategy, not an end.

It is revealed that the tactics of terrorism were generating a doctrine of terror to the length of the waves, each wave gives rise to important thesis that express the special characteristics of the same, and that contribute to the modern common effort to formulate a “science of terror". Manuals of terrorist groups, terrorist and tactical actions used were inspiration for small groups that began their terror in Latin American or third world countries, because thanks to technology which decreased distance and time, this doctrine of terror spread. The main efforts focused on the guerrillas (hitting and running) actions that are aimed at military troops, attacks that went beyond the combat rules, because the weapons were hidden and the rebels did not have a badge thatThey will identify them from the non -combatants. Another of the tactics is the hostage take to gain political influence, in this it was evidenced that hostages could provide a lotrebels. The kidnappings occurred in at least 73 countries and were especially important in Italy, Spain and Latin America. The murders and the hostage take, are common characteristics of the third wave, this still persists, but the mortal tactical innovation of the ‘suicide attack’ appears.

In the present, the fourth wave is being observed around the world, if it follows the trajectory of its three predecessors, soon another inspiring cause of hope will become a doctrine and it is likely that it arises unexpectedly, as the story tells four times in four times inlast. History also shows that the inspiration of a wave of terrorism can be dry in time. But, unfortunately, it also shows that terrorists regularly devise new ways to carry out their activities. Therefore, the importance of addressing the subject with more amplitude arises not only concentrating on the wave of the moment in the country, but precisely in which it can be futurely arise. This is an important step which is being given to stop this kind of terrorism in the country, so you should focus efforts, strengthening our doctrine, strategic, operational and tactical to stop future threats, counterattacing the doctrine of terror that isA reality and that has taken shape for more than 130 years, doing a lot of damage not only in Colombia if not worldwide.