Colombia
Buenos Aires health care workers stage protest
Workers Struggles: The Americas
20 October 2020
Health care sector worker in Buenos Aires, Argentina march to the city government offices to press demands for nurses to attain permanent professional status, emergency raises and additional staffing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Colombia’s ex-president Uribe freed from house arrest to lead right-wing repression
By Andrea Lobo, 13 October 2020
The release was the result of pressures from President Iván Duque’s administration, as well as from the White House.
Killing by Colombian military escalates protests against state violence
By Andrea Lobo, 26 September 2020
The wave of unrest is merging with opposition to the devastation caused by the state’s counter-insurrectionary war, which has killed more than 200,000 civilians.
Police repression continues during national strike in Colombia
By Andrea Lobo, 24 September 2020
Police violently broke up the mass demonstration in Bogotá, confirming the continued drive of the Ivan Duque administration and the entire Colombian ruling class toward dictatorship.
Latin America, epicenter of COVID-19 pandemic, on the brink of social explosion
By Tomas Castanheira, 12 September 2020
Latin America this week reached the grim milestones of 300,000 COVID-19 deaths and more than 8 million infections.
Colombian security forces massacre 10 youth protesting police murder
By Andrea Lobo, 11 September 2020
The massacre in Bogotá signals the willingness of the Colombian ruling elite to turn to authoritarian rule to crush social opposition in the midst of the uncontrolled pandemic.
Amid mounting political crisis, Colombia faces world’s highest COVID-19 death rate
By Julian James, 15 August 2020
Over the past weeks, the country has registered the highest per capita COVID-19 death rate in the world, 43.1 deaths per million people, compared to 32.9 per million for Brazil and 24.4 for the US.
Protests and looting break out in Colombia over failure to distribute aid amid COVID-19 quarantine
By Cesar Uco and Bill Van Auken, 21 April 2020
The right-wing Duque government has called for reopening “productive life without social life” to meet the needs of Colombian and foreign capital.
Twenty-three die in Colombia prison revolt over coronavirus conditions
By Julian James, 24 March 2020
Amid fears of the rapidly spreading pandemic, prison riots erupted across Colombia and were brutally suppressed by prison guards.
Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe linked to international drug trafficking through Sinaloa Cartel
By Julian James, 16 January 2020
The charges against Uribe expose Colombia’s “war on drugs,” like that of the US, as a smokescreen for government criminality and a pretext for violence against the population.
Colombian trade unions working with President Duque to shut down national strike movement
By Evan Blake, 6 December 2019
Despite brutal police repression, tens of thousands carried out a third national strike on Wednesday in Colombia.
In defiance of repression, Colombian workers mount second national strike in the past week
By Evan Blake, 28 November 2019
In the face of intense police repression that has already killed four protesters, workers and youth took to the streets to voice their hostility to the right-wing Duque administration.
Leaked audio of top Colombian officials exposes failure of US coup operation in Venezuela
By Andrea Lobo, 23 November 2019
The picture that emerges is that of a US vassal state panicking that, amid growing opposition from below, it also faces a civil war within Washington’s foreign-policy establishment.
National strike shakes Colombia’s right-wing government
By Evan Blake, 22 November 2019
In the latest eruption of the global class struggle, hundreds of thousands marched in over 100 cities demanding the ouster of President Duque.
With national strike set for November 21, political crisis intensifies in Colombia
By Evan Blake, 19 November 2019
In response to the looming strike, the Duque administration has begun to prepare a brutal crackdown by the military and police.
US-backed Colombian military kills eight children in bombing, attempts cover-up
By Andrea Lobo, 11 November 2019
The brazenness of military repression to defend the highest levels of inequality in the world is the result of over a century of imperialist oppression.
Colombian government renews civil war amid growing social unrest
By Julian James, 7 September 2019
At least 150 former FARC fighters and their family members have been killed since the signing of the agreement with the Colombian government.
Venezuelan refugees face desperate conditions in Colombia
By Julian James, 29 May 2019
The greatest influx of refugees has been to Colombia, where an estimated 1.1 million Venezuelans survive on the margins of society.
Far-right candidate elected as Colombia becomes NATO “global partner”
By Andrea Lobo, 27 June 2018
Parallel to the rise of far-right forces in Europe and the US, the coming to power of Iván Duque represents a stark warning for workers in Colombia.
Killing continues in Colombia as FARC disarms
By Carlota Duran, 21 July 2017
The world’s oldest guerrilla group is preparing to transform itself into a new bourgeois party in alliance with the Colombian Stalinists.
Colombian government ignores warnings, mudslide kills hundreds
By Andrea Lobo, 4 April 2017
The disaster in Mocoa has killed over 250 people in one of the most impoverished areas of the country.
150 Colombia
3 April 2017
Colombian government signs revised peace deal with FARC
By Andrea Lobo, 29 November 2016
The government’s unpopularity has been deepened by its attempt to employ the discredited leadership of the FARC as a left cover.
Colombian president receives Nobel Peace Prize for rejected accord with the FARC
By Andrea Lobo, 11 October 2016
The selection of Santos only underscores the dubious character of this distinction, which has been bestowed on the likes of Obama, Henry Kissinger and Menachem Begin.
Colombia votes against peace accord between the FARC and government
By Andrea Lobo, 4 October 2016
Widespread abstention has postponed President Juan Manuel Santos’ plan to initiate an austerity plan under the banner of “peace” and “unity.”
Colombian peace deal paves way for fiscal austerity
By Neil Hardt, 7 September 2016
The agreement has been heralded by international banks and corporations as necessary to pave the way for further attacks on the Colombian masses.
US-backed Colombian peace treaty grants impunity for war crimes
By Neil Hardt, 5 April 2016
The agreement would transform the FARC into a legal political party and pave the way for intensified imperialist exploitation in Colombia.
Colombia and FARC commit to peace deal in six months
By Bill Van Auken, 26 September 2015
The Colombian government and the guerrilla movement reached an agreement on “transitional justice.”
Chinese premier concludes four-country tour of South America
By Alexander Fangmann, 30 May 2015
The trip yielded a variety of trade and investment deals, along with infrastructure initiatives—all aimed at counteracting slowing domestic growth while expanding influence in the region.
Colombian peace talks continue amid renewed combat
By Bill Van Auken, 30 May 2015
The Colombian government dispatched its foreign minister and one of the country’s most prominent capitalists in an attempt to salvage the negotiations with the FARC.
US troops, immune from prosecution, raped dozens of Colombian children
By Bill Van Auken, 28 March 2015
The crimes, committed under cover of a treaty granting the US military complete impunity, have gone unreported in the mass media.
Colombian left backs Santos in election’s second round
By Rafael Azul, 14 June 2014
Pseudo-left leaders of the Polo Democratico and the FARC guerrilla movement are backing the president and former defense minister as the “lesser evils.”
At least 16 killed in Colombian mine disaster
By Bill Van Auken, 6 May 2014
For the Santos government, the issue is not one of workers’ safety, but rather of its deals with transnational mining companies.
CIA role in Colombia assassination program bared
By Bill Van Auken, 24 December 2013
A targeted assassination program that claimed the lives of at least two dozen leaders of Colombian guerrilla movements was secretly organized and directed by US intelligence agencies.
Strikes, protests challenge Colombian government
By Bill Van Auken, 20 August 2013
Tens of thousands of workers and peasants carried out demonstrations and blocked highways in an August 19 strike against the US-backed government of President Juan Manuel Santos.
Colombian government, FARC guerrillas in peace talks
By Bill Van Auken, 6 September 2012
Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos formally announced that his government is in peace talks with the FARC guerrilla movement.
Half a million students strike over education law in Colombia
By Luis Arce, 29 October 2011
Tens of thousands of students took to the streets of Colombia’s major cities Wednesday to demand the rescinding of a proposed university “reform” that they say will benefit the country’s wealthiest at the expense of the majority of Colombian youth.
Former Colombian secret police chief convicted of murder
By Bill Van Auken, 17 September 2011
The conviction of former Colombia secret police chief Jorge Noguera
Global commission brands “drug war” a failure
By Bill Van Auken, 3 June 2011
An international commission that includes former Latin American presidents and US officials issued a scathing indictment of Washington’s “war on drugs.”
Two Colombia mine explosions kill 26
By Samuel Davidson, 7 February 2011
Two mine explosions in less than two weeks have claimed the lives of 26 miners, beginning another deadly year for Colombian miners.
Colombia cable: Army murder of civilians “widespread”
By Bill Van Auken, 21 December 2010
A classified cable from the US embassy in Bogota confirms that Washington was told the Colombian army’s murder of civilians was “widespread,” yet still approved military aid.
Colombian high court rejects US bases agreement
By Bill Van Auken, 21 August 2010
A Colombian high court decision to toss out a treaty allowing the US to set up military bases in the country has left the governments in both countries scrambling to salvage the agreement.
Santos takes office as Colombia’s president
By Rafael Azul, 9 August 2010
Behind the August 7 celebration of the swearing in of Manuel Santos as president, Colombia is in a state of profound crisis, marked by rising poverty and unprecedented social inequality.
Rescue crews find no survivors in Colombian coal mine
By Rafael Azul, 28 June 2010
Nine days after a catastrophic explosion at the San Fernando coal mine in Amagá, Colombia, rescue crews ended their work. Seventy-three bodies were removed from the mine.
Over 50 miners trapped in a Colombian coal mine
By Rafael Azul, 19 June 2010
At least 23 miners have been killed in a coal mine explosion in Colombia, the latest in a series of such disasters internationally.
US military base plan fuels Latin American tensions
By Bill Van Auken, 5 August 2009
The Pentagon’s plan to deploy US forces at seven new military bases in Colombia has fueled mounting tensions in Latin America.
Colombia rocked by wiretapping revelations
By Bill Van Auken, 27 February 2009
A Colombian spy agency under the direct command of President Uribe was implicated in wholesale wiretapping against opposition politicians, judges and journalists, just as the country’s defense minister arrived in Washington to seek more military aid.
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