Nothing captures the imagination of the Colombian people, or is more emblematic of the Colombian conflict, than the unsolved mystery of the murder of Jorge Eliecer Gaitan on April 9, 1948. The sixty year anniversary of Gaitan’s assassination provides an opportunity to reflect on the origins of Colombia’s seemingly endless war. […]
The military operative executed by Colombian soldiers on Ecuadorian soil to kill the FARC commander Raul Reyes is part of the strategy of the United States to alter the military balance in the region. In the crosshairs is Venezuelan and Ecuadorian oil; however it also serves as a check on Brazil as an emerging regional power. […]
Uncertainty prevails on the cobbled streets of Marmato – a small mining town of some 8,000 souls clinging to the side of El Burro, a site of traditional ‘subsistence’ gold mining in the Colombian Andes. Five years ago, the subsidiary of a Canadian mining company Toronto began consolidating ownership of the mountain, leading to “economic forced displacement” and the social eradication of a working community.
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In the immediate aftermath of the Colombian state murders in Ecuador, massive demonstrations were held across Colombia and throughout the world on behalf of Colombians killed by state or paramilitary violence. One of the immediate consequences has been renewed paramilitary terror and threats against trade unionists and human-rights activists. All of this makes the publication of The People Behind Colombian Coal timely and important.
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(IPS) – Hugs and handshakes between the presidents of Colombia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Venezuela put an end to a week-long political and diplomatic crisis that threatened to escalate into a regional conflict. The Rio Group, […]
"I will march against the members of the security forces who have betrayed the honour of the military and the police, and have betrayed their fatherland, by selling themselves out to paramilitaries and drug traffickers to serve their interests," said Colombian Senator Juan Manuel Galán in a speech given at the spot where his father was assassinated in 1989.
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"Some four million people in Colombia have been displaced, the majority of them by paramilitary groups. These groups, acting alone or in conjunction with members of the armed forces, have disappeared at least 15,000 compatriots and have buried them in more than 3,000 mass graves; they have murdered more than 1,700 indigenous people, 2,550 trade unionists, and close to 5,000 members of the Patriotic Union. " […]
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