Arms Trafficking and Colombia

Kim Cragin, Bruce Hoffman

ResearchPublished 2003

Colombia has experienced significant political instability and violence over the past century due to a number of factors — the drug trade, a protracted insurgent conflict, internal corruption, and small-arms proliferation, the last being among the most serious of the country's problems. The authors identify the sources and routes used by arms traffickers to acquire, buy, sell, receive, transfer, and ship weapons. They also examine the various guerrilla groups, paramilitary organizations, criminal factions, and ordinary citizens who purchase and use these munitions. The authors then examine Colombia's political conflict through the lens of small-arms trafficking and conclude with policy implications for the U.S. government. The authors find that small-arms trafficking patterns — the manner by which arms and munitions are acquired and distributed — provide useful insights into the strategies used by insurgent groups engaged in conflict and a conflict's future evolution.

Topics

Document Details

Citation

Chicago Manual of Style

Cragin, Kim and Bruce Hoffman, Arms Trafficking and Colombia. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2003. https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1468.html.
BibTeX RIS

Research conducted by

The research described in this report was sponsored by the Defense Intelligence Agency. The research was conducted in RAND’s National Defense Research Institute, a federally funded research and development center supported by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the unified commands, and the defense agencies.

This publication is part of the RAND monograph report series. The monograph report was a product of RAND from 1993 to 2003. RAND monograph reports presented major research findings that addressed the challenges facing the public and private sectors. They included executive summaries, technical documentation, and synthesis pieces.

This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited; linking directly to this product page is encouraged. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial purposes. For information on reprint and reuse permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.

RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.