Criminal rebels? A discussion of civil war and criminality from the Colombian experience

The Colombian conflict seems to be a typical instance of a ‘greedy war’, and exhibits very strong links between criminal economic activities and rebel organisations. Against this, Gutierrez suggests that not even in Colombia does the ‘criminal rebels’ thesis hold, with the Colombian case showing that criminality and war mix in ways that escape a strictly economic interpretation of war. Analysing the experience of the two leading Colombian guerrilla armies (FARC and ELN), he demonstrates the need for a different framework for the understanding of wars waged by non- (or not strictly) materialistic soldiers.