Law in a Lawless Land

Diary of a Limpieza in Colombia

Bibliographic Data

ID2546499
AuthorsClara Sacchetti, M Taussig (0009-0000-9351-2678)
Year2006
Volume48
Issue2
Pages283
Publication date2006-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnthropologica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0254-9212 • E-ISSN: 2224-6428
PublisherUniversity of Victoria Libraries (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/25605317
OpenAlexW1488498955
LanguageEN
Citations received45

Michael Taussig, Law in a Lawless Land: Diary of a Limpieza in Colombia, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005,222 pages.The recent capture of leaders of Colombia's two most notorious guerrilla organizations, reported decreases in country's homicide rates, and a well-televised ceremony in 2003 depicting surrender of arms by a group of paramilitaries may lead one to believe that Colombia is finally at peace. And it may lead one to believe that 2005 paperback edition of Michael Taussig's Law in a Lawless Land is unnecessary. Nothing could be further from truth. For Taussig's book highlights how a culture of terror is deeply embedded in people's everyday lives. Taussig argues that Colombia's culture of terror is based upon constant production of fear, uncertainty, and ambivalence. This is so much case that one never really knows who next will be murdered, tortured, intimidated, or run-out-of-town. Unsurprisingly, this culture of terror is operationalized by existence of paramilitaries who are who are not really soldiers but more like ghosts flitting between visible and invisible, between regular army and criminal underworld of killers and torturers.Colombia's culture of terror is not new. Law in a Lawless Land describes its intensification-one that surprises even Taussig, who has been investigating it for over three decades. Taussig is shocked by now brazen nature of killing and its acceptance by honest and honourable citizens. The culture of terror, once marked by anonymous killing, is now carried out in broad daylight, a public spectacle for all to see. To try to understand this situation Taussig has written a diary about his two-week stay in 2001 in a town under paramilitary control. His diary details his most recent fieldwork experiences, their connections to past experiences, their relation to quotidian nature of Colombia's culture of terror, and their linkages to long-term existence of paramilitaries.Taussig fleshes out links between Colombia's current culture of terror and recent history of paramilitaries (aka the paras). The paras, initially formed in 1930s as a private police force by Conservative party supporters, were created to deal with cattle-rustling. They were later deployed to destroy rising popularity of Marxian notions of social justice and establishment of left-leaning guerilla organizations. By systematically murdering officials, supporters, trade union leaders and priests, paras were able to instill fear and uncertainty into hearts and minds of many Columbians. Fear and uncertainty were exacerbated by participation of local police and National Army in Liberal ethnocide-a situation that blurred usual lines between legitimate State force and illegitimate paramilitary force.Despite consolidation of Conservative Party power, blurred Unes between legal and illegal force continued as paramilitaries were deployed time and time again. In 1960s they were deployed to help landowners evict peasants from their farming lands; in 1970s they were deployed to quell rebellious peasant and Indian movements; in 1980s they were deployed by drug cartels as protection against aggressive left-leaning guerillas; and in 1990s they were deployed to track down and murder guerilla sympathizers. In new millennium, paramilitaries have been charged with task of cleansing towns and cities of delincuentes, undesirables. The undesirables are not, however, simply lefty-guerillas, insurgents or rebels. They are, rather, thugs, gang members, prostitutes, beggars, mad and other relatively defenceless individuals. They are victims in Taussig's never ending stories of people shot at open-air markets, knifed in pool halls, gunned down in streets and murdered at bus stops.Clearly, cleansing, or what is called limpieza, has linkages to past

Political science · Sociology · Conflict, Peace, and Violence in Colombia · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · History and Politics in Latin America · Law