Weekly Report - 15 March 2012 (WR-12-11)

“Satisifed.” That was the succinct response of the governor of Chocό, Luis Gilberto Murillo, after Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos visited the north-western coastal department this week. Santos promised more social investment and a stronger military presence to combat the influx of guerrillas and neo-paramilitaries. A week earlier, after the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) had declared the fourth ‘armed strike’ in the department in the last 10 months, Murillo had denounced the “abandonment of the State”. Earlier this year the neo-paramilitary group Urabeños imposed its own ‘armed strike’. Santos rolled out his ‘plan de choque’ (conflict plan) for Chocó after visiting with his whole cabinet. This was a clear statement of intent that far from abandoning the department, the State was placing it at the heart of government policy.

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