History of The Colombian National Police - Colombian Armed Conflict

Colombian Armed Conflict

In 1964 and as mandated by the Decree 349 of February 19 of this same year the Police Superior Academy is founded to endoctrine officers with the rank of Major to the grade of Lieutenant Colonels. By 1977 the institution created the first course for female officers.

During the 1960s and 1970s the National Police started facing guerrilla threats which were emerging during these years as a backlash from the political bipartisan struggle of La Violencia years and also the growing problem of contraband and illegal drugs trafficking that also surfaced and the involvement of the United States with the implementation of the Plan LASO as a proxy war plan against the expansion of Communism during the Cold War, the later declaration of the War on Drugs and the Plan Colombia, would eventually help develop the present and ongoing Colombian Armed Conflict involving mainly guerrillas; the FARC-EP including its Patriotic Union Party, ELN, Popular Liberation Army\EPL, M-19, among many others; The Drug Cartels such as the Medellín Cartel, Cali Cartel, and others; Paramilitarism and the AUC. The Colombian National Police has been fighting against these many threats tainted or involved in some cases of corruption and accusations of human rights violations amid the efforts of the majority of the institution to change its image.