"My analysis was focused on two case studies, the Argentinian (1976-1983) and the Peruvian (1980-2000) one. To conduct this research, I used an multidisciplinary approach based on different methodology strategies (such as archive analysis, interviews with state actors, and ethnographic work conducted within the villages). During the first year of the MSCA program, I studied the construction and the present life of strategic villages in the province of Tucumán and Chaco (Argentina). The second year of the MSCA, 2017, was devoted to fieldwork conducted in Peru (Lima and Ayacucho). The third year of the MSCA, 2018, was devoted to the analysis of the collected data and focused on publishing and disseminating the main results of this research. Along the three years of the MSCA, I was able to create and consolidate different research networks, mostly in Argentina, Peru, Canada and France, through the organization of collective publications, workshops, and public activities (like the coorganzation of an exhibition).
Here a summary of the main results of the Strategic Villages program:
1. Strategic villages worldwide: Thanks to the MSCA research, I was able to demonstrate that some states (when facing the loss of state control over territories, especially with the emergence of guerrilla movements) will end up adopting very similar policies to control the population (Colombo 2018a).
2. The circulation of the Strategic Village program in Latin America: I was able to identify five Latin American countries in which the program of strategic villages has been implemented as a military policy: Brazil, Argentina, Guatemala, Peru, and Salvador. With this MSCA program, I was able to begin an analysis on the implementation and circulation of this military program in Latin America.
3. Ethnography and long-lasting effects of counterinsurgency policies: few enquiries have been conducted to study the lived experience of people that were forced to inhabit the strategic villages in Latin America so far. I was thus among the first scholars to conduct an ethnographic research inside the strategic villages in Argentina. This has allowed me, from one side, to reconstruct the way in which the program was applied in this country and, from the other side, to comprehend how the strategic village program was perceived and lived by the displaced population. I paid great attention to the long-term effects of this forced rural development policy, used by the military as a way to control the population and the territory at the same time (Colombo 2016).
4. Security and development: I exposed that the strategic villages program had a function not only of counterinsurgency but also of reconfiguration of society and territory under the cover of “development” policies (Colombo 2018b).
I published a total of 18 publications related to the MSCA program. Here, a summary of some of the publications:
• Colombo, P. (2019). ""Muertes fundadoras: pueblos estratégicos y militares ‘mártires’"", Hispanic Issue Online, no9, 2019. Pp75-92.
• Colombo, P. (2018a). ""Réaménagements territoriaux, contrôle des populations2028et stratégies contre-insurrectionnelles"", Critique International, No79, avril-juin 2018. pp.9- 24.
• Colombo, P. (2018b). ""Construire (dans) les marges de l’État, entre politiques2028de 'développement' et stratégies de contre-insurrection 2028(Chaco, Argentine, 1976-1980)"", Critique International, No79, avril-juin 2018, pp.87-110.
• Colombo, P. (2018c). ""Les villages stratégiques : politiques contre-insurrectionnelles et regroupements de populations2028"". Critique Internationale. No79, avril-juin 2018.
• Colombo, P. (2016). ""L’urbanisation forcée comme politique contre-insurrectionnelle. La vie au sein des villages stratégiques construits en Argentine (1976-1978)"", Cultures et Conflits, No 103-104, automne-hiver 2016. pp. 91-110."
