The victims of the internal armed conflict in Cauca department 1985-2015

Abstract

The scenario of the Colombian post-conflict proposes improvements in the reduction of the wealth-poverty gap, the guarantee of rights for the victims of the armed conflicts, and the redirecting of social investment. Cauca department is not foreign to such challenges, as its long history of conflict demands the disclosure of the state of public management, the capacity to offer assistance to victims, and a social snapshot of the victimized population entitled to rights’ redress. Hence, this current article intends to characterize the population harmed by the armed conflict from 1985 to 2015, from a quantitative methodology and using the data handed over by the Unit of Victims to match them with the results of public management stemming from quantitative sources in the department. The redressing process implies a high capacity to manage resources, and the department still offers limited achievements in the area of social investment, weak managerial capacity, and active presence of illegal armed groups, affecting the regional post-conflict scenario. All of this becomes the institutional challenge the department has to face in order to offer a full guarantee for the rights of the victims, as expressed in Law 1448 of 2011.