Colombia's Plan de Consolidacion Integral de la Macarena

This report is an assessment by the CSIS Americas Program of the Plan de Consolidación Integral de la Macarena (PCIM), a project that the government of Colombia is implementing in six municipalities of the department of Meta. First organized in August 2007, the PCIM is now a year-and-a-half old, although it was not fully implemented until late that year. The Plan arises from the lessons learned from previous, though not fully successful, efforts by the government of Colombia to consolidate legitimate state authority in areas formerly controlled by illegal armed groups.

The PCIM envisages a sequenced approach to consolidation, starting with securing municipal urban centers by the Colombian military and followed by the establishment of a police presence, freeing the military for further security consolidation in outlying rural areas. Once a sufficient degree of security is established, the eradication of coca production, either voluntarily or forced, takes place, facilitating the expansion of state presence and the rise of a legal economy.

The CSIS Americas Program offers its conclusions and recommendations based on the considerable Colombia-specific and post-conflict experience of its team members, on the on-site consultations carried out by the team in Bogota, Villavicencio, and the Macarena region in March 2009, and on interviews and research prior to that visit. The authors are confident that an assessment at this time is useful in identifying key strengths and weaknesses that may assist policymakers in both Colombia and the United States as they develop further initiatives.