Colombia, the Oligarchs and Washington

Details: Published on Monday, 20 April 2020 01:52; Written by editor

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2064 ... April 20, 2020
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Colombia, the Oligarchs and Washington

Vijay Prashad, Paola Estrada, Ana Maldonado and Zoe PC

Last year, on November 21, the Colombian people took to the streets in massive numbers to reject the policies of the government led by President Iván Duque. In particular, the people called on the government to withdraw two policies.

First, the people wanted the right-wing government of Duque to advance the 2016 peace accords between the government and the left-wing FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia). These accords, negotiated in good faith, would have ended a war that has lasted for six decades; 70 per cent of Colombian society has been born during this war.

Second, the people wanted to end the harsh austerity policies driven by Duque’s government, which includes cuts to public universities, cuts to the pension system, and cuts against broad social spending. The main trade union federation -- Central Trade Union of Workers in Colombia (CUT) -- called for that protest, which then broadened into a mass uprising against Duque and the system of Colombian... politics.

The general secretary of CUT and spokesperson of the People’s Congress, Edgar Mojica, was on the barricades daily, helping shape the mass upsurge that suggested that Colombian society no longer wanted to be held hostage to the whims of its sclerotic oligarchy and to the United States government. This was the mood. It was clear in the slogans and graffiti that emerged in Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, and then outwards to its smaller cities and towns.