Discourse and ideology of Álvaro Uribe Vélez on Colombian guerrillas and the impact on peace processes in Colombia

Abstract

Through Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) this text examines how the politician Álvaro Uribe Velez builds a discourse on Colombian guerrillas and shows how his discourse affects peace processes in Colombia. To do this, we have three objectives. Firstly, we identify and analyze what sorts of social representations of guerrillas emerge from his political discourse. Then, we determine and examine the strategies used by Álvaro Uribe Velez to legitimize and justify his opinions and attitudes towards the guerrillas. Finally, we study how his ideological discourse impacts the peace process. To attain these objectives, we qualitatively and quantitatively analyze five interviews which span a period of thirteen years. Quantitatively, we identify eighteen categories of analysis and we present those categories qualitatively by examining the discursive and ideological structures used by Álvaro Uribe Vélez. This analysis will show that the discourse of the politician Álvaro Uribe Vélez is built on a clearly polarized ideology of Us and Them; where the first group is seen only in terms of its positive aspects and the second only in terms of its negative aspects. Thus, our analysis concludes that the ideological discourse of this politician represents an obstacle to the success of the peace process in Colombia.