Right-wing paramilitaries in Colombia responsible for the largest internally displaced population on Earth
History
and current facts show that it may get worse after FARC disarmament
A year ago,
the government of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and the
country's left-wing FARC rebels announced
a final peace accord in Havana. Yet, a year later, the situation in
Colombia doesn't look pretty. In fact, it seems that the void left by
FARC has been occupied by new paramilitaries on behalf of big
corporations. Atrocities, assassinations and human rights violations
continue against anyone who dares to question the corporate
authority.
While Colombia is known for one of the worst human
rights records in the world, it remains a top recipient of US
military aid and enjoys uncritical press coverage in Western
media--all while Trump threatens military intervention against
Venezuela over unsubstantiated allegations.
Abby Martin
spoke to human rights attorney Dan Kovalik, who has recently returned
from both countries. Among many interesting aspects, Kovalik gave
also a brief background on FARC's origins. He revealed that this is
not the first time that FARC gave up weapons and that atrocities and
violence by right-wing paramilitaries increased, a story which seems
to be repeated today.
Specifically:
FARC had its
origins in the peasants. Before they were the FARC they were,
essentially, these independent peasants co-ops in Colombia. In fact,
they were viewed by the Colombian and the US government as a threat,
not because of violence, but because they were seen as these kinds of
independent states within Colombia.
In truth,
Colombia has not even had a central government for the whole country
till very very recently. So, they filled this vacuum and they
basically had their own kind of communistic society, which was a
threat, not because of violence, but because it represented a
different alternative economy to the prevailing capitalist economy.
The real
beginning of the civil war and of the FARC was a combined US-Colombia
assault on these independent republics, where these peasant
communities were bombed with Napalm by the United States. And that
took place in 1964 that led to the creation of FARC.
One has to
give credit to the FARC for being willing to take that chance because
we know in the 1980s they also disarmed and they were allowed to form
a political party, called the UP, and three to five thousand of
their leaders were murdered. That's what sent them back into the
mountains.
The violence
is actually started to increase since the signing of the peace
process. What we see, is that these right-wing paramilitary groups
still exist, despite the US and Colombian denial.
So, these
paramilitaries now control 74 of about 250 municipalities. They
essentially moved in, now that the FARC has retreated. They're taking
over land, they're taking over towns, and in the process, they're
killing peace activists, trade union leaders, human rights leaders,
indigenous leaders, Afro-Colombians. And that's why you have seven
million people internally displaced in Colombia. Largest internally
displaced population on Earth, more than even Syria.
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