It is no secret that Colombia lives in a state of bloody war. Less well known is the fact that war has had a strong presence in this South American country ever since Pre-Colombian times, and that the current situation of armed conflict is nothing more than the eternal persistence of ancient conflicts which have never been resolved and whose only variation lies in the protagonists and their dark motives.

The tribes of the Caribbean linguistic family were the first great warmongers in Colombian history. They conquered the best part of the land, using weapons to impose their rule upon other, less bellicose tribes, especially the Muiscas, whom they dominated so completely that even the Spanish invasion could not intervene.

When the territory was invaded by the Iberian conquistadores, it was the Caribbean tribe the Taironas who opposed domination most fiercely, drawing their resistance out well into the 16th century. Finally, they were defeated, enslaved and evangelized in what was known as the Viceroyalty of Nueva Granada.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, although things seemed relatively peaceful, the Spanish practice of ill-treatment and excess was sowing the seeds of revolution amongst the Creoles, paving the way for an insurrection which exploded in 1781 with the Revolución Comunera: the first step on the bloody path towards emancipation from Spanish rule. It continued in 1810 with the "Cry of Independence", bringing the first great war to the Viceroyalty with the Spanish Reconquista. The war's victims numbered thousands of inhabitants of Nuevo Granada who suffered at the hands of the "Pacifier", Pablo Morillo and his cruel methods.

Once Iberian rule was re-established, there was a second and, this time, definitive bid for freedom led by Simón Bolivar whose Campaña Libertadora resulted in Spanish power being ousted from the country permanently in 1819.

Up to this point, Colombia's history does not differ much from that of any other country that has fought for independence. The difference lies in the fact that the emancipation marked the beginning of a long succession of civil wars that continue to present day.

Throughout the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, Colombia witnessed 11 civil wars motivated for the most part by the personal interests of political and military leaders who tried to impose their preferred governmental systems upon the country; differences that, in the long run, gave rise to the separation from Panama.

As if the war and violence within the country were not sufficient, Colombia has also taken part in international wars: two wars against Peru (1827 and1932), one against Ecuador (1830), another against Germany (1941) and the intervention in Korea (1951).

During the 20th Century, the war between the country's Conservative and Liberal parties, known as "the Violence", caused blood to flow in the country between 1930 and 1948. This was accompanied by a radicalisation of factions following the murder of the Liberal Party's Presidential candidate, Jorge Eliécer Gaítan, on the 9th April 1948. The bi-partisan war degenerated into state violence utilized by the Conservatives who were in power at the time. This, in turn, led the Liberals to organise themselves into the first Guerilla units the country had seen.

The war against the state involving those first guerrillas stopped in 1953 when they downed arms during the military government led by Gustavo Rojas Pinilla. However, not all groups accepted the peace agreements offered by the Rojas government and these dissenters went on to form the world's oldest guerrilla movement, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in 1958, the National Liberation Army (ELN) in 1964 and other groups such as PCLM, M-19, EPL and Quintín Lame throughout the 1960's and 1970's.

These guerrilla movements were persistent in their violence against Colombia's democratic institutions, kidnapping and killing civilians over a period of almost fifty years. In the 1980's, in the wake of the state forces' failure to combat the guerrilla terrorism and protect civilians, self-defence and paramilitary groups emerged and, ever since, have fought a direct war against the guerilleros, carrying out massacres and showing a blatant disregard for human rights - much like their enemies.

To this war-torn scenario, one must add the factor that financed and degenerated the guerrilla and self-defence movements: Narcotrafficking. Since the 1980's, millions of dollars have passed through the hands of Colombian subversive movements financing arms deals and the groups' existence. But Narcoterrorism has not just financed these particular groups; its harmful insertion during the 1980's and 90's into the country's political and economic life, as well as terrorism, meant action was taken against those who opposed it. During this period, the presidential candidates Carlos Pizarro, Luis Carlos Galán and Bernardo Jaramillo, along with many other leaders and journalists who also denounced the infiltration of narcotrafficking, were assassinated for this very reason.

At present, Guerrilla violence continues to destroy the country with the daily kidnapping and murder of civilians, and although the self-defence groups are currently in the middle of a peace process, they persist with violence and narcotrafficking. The country has, on average, around 20,000 deaths a year caused by violence and the war the state wages against the subversive groups and narcotrafficking cartels.

All of the above illustrates how this country has had only very brief periods of peace and tranquillity. The negotiations that have brokered successful disarmament and peace processes have not real peace given that when one group disbands and leaves a territory, it immediately becomes occupied by another group that continues to utilize it to carry out their own activities.

It seems that violence is an inherent characteristic in our life as a nation, which can be changed but with great difficulty. Perhaps, when the causes for the immense gulf in the distribution of wealth, state corruption, narcotrafficking and the indifference of those who have not been touched by the war have disappeared, we will be able to find a path of reconciliation that leads all of us to work for peace in our land.