Synopses & Reviews
Since its independence in the nineteenth century, the South American state of Colombia has been shaped by decades of bloody political violence. In The Para-State, author Aldo Civico draws on interviews with paramilitary death squads and drug lords to provide a cultural interpretation of the countryand#8217;s history of violence and state control. Between 2003 and 2008, Civico was given unprecedented access to some of Colombiaand#8217;s most notorious leaders of the death squads whose words and life stories he chronicles.and#160; He also conducted interviews with the victims of paramilitaryand#8217;s violence, drug kingpins, and vocal public supporters of the paramilitary groups. Drawing on the work of Deleuze and Guattari, this riveting work demonstrates how the paramilitaries have in essence become the war machine deployed by the Columbian state to control and maintain its territory and political legitimacy.
About the Author
Aldo Civico is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Rutgers University. Between 2005 and 2008 Civico facilitated ceasefire talks between the government of Colombia and the guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN). Senator George Mitchell has called him and#147;one of the most innovative leaders in the conflict resolution field.and#8221;