This article develops the thesis that the internationalization of the Colombian armed conflict has been carried out using a strategy denominated "intervention by invitation", by which the governments of Andrés Pastrana and Álvaro Uribe intensified Colombia's association with the United States and requested greater involvement by that country in domestic affairs related to counternarcotics and counterinsurgency. The author discusses a series of conceptual frameworks that allow her to situate this strategy, following which she examines the evolution of Colombian foreign policy during the two periods identified.