The Council on Foreign Relations and the Inter-American Dialogue were delighted to sponsor this important effort. Colombia, Latin America’s third most populous country, has been suffering a long-term, persistent deterioration on many fronts. The implications for the United States and other countries in the hemisphere are significant.With the United States debating a major security assistance package, which has since been approved, we thought it would be useful to assemble a diverse group of U.S. policy and opinion leaders to examine Colombia’s underlying problems, review U.S. policy toward that country, and develop recommendations for improving the policy. In 1998—even before...

Colombia is a troubled country, beset by crime, corruption, and violence. On average, 25,000 Colombians die each year from diverse acts of violence; the country’s homicide rate is among the highest in the world. In addition, more than half of the world’s kidnappings take place in Colombia, a country characterized by rampant lawlessness and insecurity.

The problem is highlighted and compounded by the fact that even more than a decade after the end of the Cold War, two of the hemisphere’s oldest insurgencies remain highly active forces in Colombia. Both the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National...