In this article the author compares insurgency violence in Colombia and Perú. Having identified a shared trait, state weakness, the distinct strategies employed in the two countries to combat armed movements are evaluated. Based upon a conceptual analysis of the characteristics of the state in both cases, the author argües that the difference between the configuration of socio-economic élites and their relationship wiih the state in each country explains the distinctions between the counterinsurgency models of socio-centric “privatization” (adopted in Colombia) and state-centric “authoritarianism” (in Perú). The comparative study of these strategies illustrates that both represented enormous costs for the respective societies in these countries and were not accompanied by transformations in their respectiv political structures, designed to assure the stability and preservation of the democratic system.