Steve Lalla On April 9, 1948, Colombian Liberal politician, movement leader, and social activist Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Ayala was murdered in the capital city of Bogotá. His killing changed the country’s history forever. During the 1940s the charismatic orator and lawyer had steered the Liberal party towards socialism. Gaitán was leading the presidential race at…
Category: COLOMBIA
Venezuela Has a Strategy: Bolivarian Shield
Sergio Rodríguez Gelfenstein Civilians practice combat tactics for the defense of their homeland, Feb. 15, 2020. | Photo: Twitter/ @Bauxilum_CVG Throughout history (at least since the end of World War II) the interventionist imprint of the United States has had the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as the main actor. The entire conspiratorial framework that led…
Peace in Colombia is Peace in Venezuela
Ernesto Cazal More than 2,200 kilometers of border have been shared by Colombia and Venezuela for centuries, when colonial names and statuses were different and the current republics were only dreamed-of entities. After the republics, when we were actually one with Ecuador and Panama, the borders were not determined as national, but as a cultural…
Violence and Humanitarian Crisis Intensify in Colombia
Peoples Dispatch The situation of violence in Colombia has led to the force displacements of around 15,000 people in different parts of the country. Photo: CONPAZCOL/Twitter According to the INDEPAZ, as of April 6, 43 social leaders and 14 ex-combatants of FARC have been assassinated by illegal armed groups. 91 people have been killed in…
Combat in Apure: A Political-Military Crossroads
Fernando Rivero U.S. Military Doctrine. Neoliberal Globalization conditions the current U.S. Military Doctrine. Its principles, tactics, techniques, procedures, terms and symbols are based on a dense political philosophy, from a particular interpretation of the philosophy of war. U.S. military thought (based on the theoretical approaches of Hobbes, Machiavelli, Foucault and Morgenthau, among others) evolved in…
Interview with Commander Villa Vázquez of the FARC-EP (Second Marquetalia)
Oliver Dodd Oliver Dodd, a PhD student at the University of Nottingham and writer for the British newspaper Morning Star, recently traveled to the Catatumbo mountains in Colombia to interview a commander-in-chief of the recently reestablished FARC-EP (Segunda Marquetalia). Villa Vazquez, the main leader of the Danilo Garcia Command of the Second Marquetalia. Background information…
Armed Conflict in La Victoria, Apure: A Closer Examination of its Characteristics
Eduardo Viloria Daboín Venezuela is once again in the news all over the world. The world media are devoting space, time and centimeter footage to these events once. Every time this happens, there is a hidden plot behind it. Every time this happens there is a great deal to analyze, to unmask. A first look…
The War Scenario in Apure is Transferred to the Media and Social Networks
Misión Verdad Since the beginning of the clashes last Sunday, March 21, between Venezuelan state security forces and armed groups operating in Apure, on the Colombian-Venezuelan border, attempts were made to construct a false narrative aimed at criminalizing the government of President Nicolás Maduro and involving secondary actors. The discourse framework promoted hours after the…
Anti-Chavismo Raises the R2P Banner
Misión Verdad Colombia, Armed Groups and Border Fighting: Analysis Beyond Apure The Colombian-Venezuelan border is heating up again with the latest war events involving irregular criminal groups coming from Colombia and the security forces of the Bolivarian Republic, and as any hot spot of conflict, it is being oversaturated with information and crossed narratives that…
Democracies Under Siege in Latin America
Marco Teruggi Andrés Arauz Alarm bells went off when the Colombian deputy prosecutor arrived in Quito a few days ago with the case against Andres Arauz in her hands. Crisis situation, scenario analysis, and, finally, a calm and cold night. It was a new threat in the presidential campaign, which from the zero hour was…
Manuel Marulanda: From Poor Campesino to Colombia’s Most Wanted
Carlos Cruz Mosquera The U.S. military led a mission to Colombia in the early 1960s that warned its government that it was ill-prepared for the “communist threat” facing the country. In 1964, following the military guidelines advised by the U.S., the Colombian state launched a fierce military mission to bomb and destroy Marquetalia, a self-governing…
Biden Backs Revival of His Brainchild: Plan Colombia 2.0 Set to Begin Next Month
Alan Macleod In an effort supposedly aimed at reducing cocaine production, Colombia is set to return to a massive aerial campaign of spraying Monsanto’s glyphosate across the country. Defense Minister Diego Molano confirmed that the highly contentious practice of fumigation — shelved since 2015 — will resume in April. “The constitutional order is clear: the…
