Americans generally know their federal acronyms: DOJ, FBI, CIA, IRS and what they represent, but what about the Colombian central government ones? Let’s go over a few you’ll see frequently…
FAC : Fuerza Aérea Colombiana. The Colombian air force
DIAN: Dirección de Impuestos y Aduanas Nacionales. The tax department.
DIRAN: Dirección de Antinarcóticos. The DEA equivalent.
DANE: Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística. The stats guys.
GAULA: Grupos de Acción Unificada por la Libertad Personal. OK, the last letter doesn’t match the word, but this is the tactical team specializing in rescuing hostages.
DIJIN: Dirección de Investigación Judicial. It’s the “lead agency for regional and global investigations into serious transnational crime linked to Colombia”.
ESMAD: Escuadrón Móvil Antidisturbios. The SWAT teams used to squelch riots.
CTI: Cuerpo Técnico de Investigación. These are investigators working with the Colombian AG. For a fuller explanation of what they do: https://en.wikipedia.org/…/Cuerpo_T%C3%A9cnico_de…
PONAL: Policía Nacional. National police.
Then there’s the way they abbreviate the titles of various central government ministers by combining “Min” with the department they head. For example, Mindefensa (Defense), Minsalud (Health), Minjusticia (Justice), and so on.
Hopefully this has made things a bit less mysterious!