In Colombia, peace dividend for science proves elusive

We welcome your recent news story about the rejection of the Colombian scientific community to the proposed budget cut for scientific research, in the wake of the peace agreement. At the same time, we think necessary to put these events into a historical perspective, and to point out what is at stake for the future of the country.

For 52 years Colombia endured an internal armed conflict between the national government and the leftist FARC, ELN and EPL guerrillas, with participation of extreme right wing paramilitary groups. The conflict left eight million victims. From 2012 to 2016 the Colombian government led by President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC (the largest and oldest armed rebel group) held talks in Havana, Cuba, and in spite of many difficulties, an agreement towards a Definitive and Bilateral Cease of Fire and Hostilities was signed in Bogotá on November 24th, 2016. The agreement finally brings hope for the conclusion of the longest and cruelest civil war in the western hemisphere. President Santos was awarded the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize for such an accomplishment. Currently, another agreement is being negotiated with ELN in Quito, Ecuador, and a temporary bi-lateral ceasefire was agreed upon on September 4th.

The cost of the protracted warfare has been enormous for Colombia, not only in the toll of victims and human suffering, but also in the diversion and depletion of national economic resources. During the period 2006-2016, the nation’s annual average expenditure on science and technology amounted to 0.20% of the GDP, considerably below the figures of other Latin American countries such as Brazil (1.21%), Argentina (0.65%), Mexico (0.43%), and Chile (0.42%). It has also been estimated that a definitive peace in Colombia will increase an additional 1% the annual national GDP. In spite of the peace agreement, the 2018 budget sent by the government of Santos to Congress for approval includes an increase of 8.2% for the military forces, and a general decrease for the rest of sectors, a highly contradictory decision coming from a Nobel Peace Prize. The situation is particularly striking and disheartening for science and technology, owing to the reduction from US$100 million in 2017 to US$75 million in 2018, as reported in your piece. This means less than US$2 per capita, way below the figures of other Latin American countries such as Brazil (US$473), Mexico (US$188), and Argentina (US$130). Lasting peace and a new civility, extending far beyond the silencing of guns and decommissioning of weapons, can only be accomplished in concert with, and by means of a thorough improvement of the public educational system that includes elementary, secondary and post-secondary education at both undergraduate and graduate levels. As important as funding relevant research in the natural sciences, engineering, mathematics and technology, the peace agreement in Colombia also demands an in-depth support of the humanities, including philosophy, history, geography, anthropology, sociology, and literature, which involve and spur the development of critical thinking and the expansion of the imagination, not to mention historical understanding. Such a new national purpose requires (necessary but not sufficient) allocating adequate financial and economic resources. The peace agreement opened up an extraordinary opportunity to exchange war for education, by redirecting the budget used until now to fund the war toward the much-needed investments in education, and provided an excellent setting to boost public investment in the natural and social sciences and the humanities, up to at least the long-overdue recommended 2% of the GDP for the benefit of Colombian society. Unfortunately, the government is wrongly disregarding this outstanding opportunity with the proposed 2018 budget, and therefore we urge Congress to correct such a historic mistake.