More Analysis On Colombia

The bourgeois media present an absolutely false and biased view of the armed conflict that has bled dry the Colombian people. In this version the violence is provoked by the guerrillas who are presented time and again as assassins dripping with blood, criminals, terrorists, etc. The reality, is that the armed conflict has its roots in the extremely backward and unjust character of Colombian capitalism and no one else is responsible other than the cruel violent and parasitic oligarchy that has dominated the country with an iron fist for centuries.

The Colombian bourgeois and imperialism have for many years used the fight against the peasant guerrillas to criminalise and exterminate left militants, and to slow down and distort the class struggle. Particularly in recent years, the prolongation of the war (together with the supposed struggle against drug trafficking) has served to justify the strengthening of the US military presence in the country and to arm to the teeth the Colombian army. Imperialism wants to convert Colombia into a military base from which they can attack every revolution on the continent, and in particular the Venezuelan revolution, that threatens the interests of the capitalists and imperialism. As the Marxists explained in advance, despite all of the promised commitments, apologies, smiles and hugs that Uribe is prepared to offer at summit meetings, acts of aggression and provocations on behalf of the Colombian oligarchy and imperialism have increased over the last few months and will continue to do so in the future.

THE ORIGINS OF THE ARMED CONFLICT

The primary cause of the war in Colombia is the economic and social make up of the country, which is profoundly unjust. Of the 10 million hectares of Colombian territory considered adequate for agriculture, only 4 million are cultivated; the rest are left unproductive in the hands of the large landowners and ranchers. In the whole of the country there are 30 million hectares dedicated to extensive ranching or to the so-called "narcolatifundios". 1.5% of the landowners and large drug traffickers possess 80% of the land while 85% of the rural population live in poverty. If we include the urban population as well, the poor count for more than 50% of the population.

The parasitism and extreme cruelty of the Colombian oligarchy is reflected in the resistance of the so-called national establishment, formed by the fusion of the interests between the great agricultural landowners and ranchers in the countryside and the financial and industrial bourgeoisie of the cities, to give up even a small part of their privileges and power. This is still going on today and is the key factor that explains the armed conflict and makes peace impossible. Every political, peasant or trade union movement with a potential to question the right of this oligarchy to continue to rule over Colombia as its private estate has been brutally repressed.

The Fight For Power

If the leaders of the FARC and the M-19 (at the time the two most active and powerful guerrilla groups) had based themselves on the struggle of the masses and first and foremost the organisation and mobilisation of the working class, putting forward a socialist programme beginning with the struggle to resolve the most immediate problems (land reform, poverty, unemployment, etc.) linking these to the struggle for peace and explaining that this could only be achieved by expropriating the the oligarchy and substituting its state with a workers' state, they could have organised the vast majority of society and taken power.

For the revolutionary movement in Colombia and throughout the world, this is a lesson written in blood. But it is also a reply to the cynical bourgeoisie, and those unprincipled renegades who, while declaring themselves to be left-wing, depict the Colombian guerrillas as being "simply assassins" or "criminals". If the guerrillas lacked a social base, they would not have been able to resist for such a long time against the attacks of the mercenary bands funded by the landowners and the bourgeois army with the support of US imperialism. Thousands of youth, workers and peasants, faced with the crisis of capitalism and the repression of the oligarchy, have swelled the ranks of the guerrillas. This demonstrates the fighting spirit and the heroism of the masses, but it also confirms the fact that unless these qualities find a programme and methods that are capable of linking the advanced layers with the working class and the exploited and win their support, then the outcome will be anything but what they want.

THE INTERVENTION OF IMPERIALISM

The most immediate objective of Plan Colombia was to weaken and corner the FARC and the ELN. From a more general point of view, this plan and its successors under different names (Patriot, etc.) flowed from the needs of US imperialism to intensify its military presence in its own back yard (and its economic presence) and to intervene against every threat to its interests. The result has been the increasing militarisation of Colombia and the strengthening of the Colombian army with the direct military presence of the USA.

In the context of a severe economic crisis, social inequalities, popular discontent in all of Latin America (and in the USA) and with the Venezuelan revolution upsetting the plans of imperialism and presenting itself more and more powerfully as a point of reference on an international scale, US imperialism decided it would base itself on the Colombian oligarchy with the aim of turning Colombia into the Israel of Latin America, a base from which they could crush every revolutionary movement on the continent, and primarily the Bolivarian revolution. US imperialism uses the Colombian oligarchy in an attempt to stifle the recent growth of the revolutionary struggle of the South American masses and, first and foremost (obviously) to threaten, harass, and if it deems it necessary, attack the neighbouring Venezuelan revolution.

For the moment, with imperialism bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan and facing a developing revolution in Latin America, its fundamental strategy is to try and sabotage and destroy the Venezuelan revolution from within, using economic sabotage to lower the morale of the masses while resting on the "fifth column" of the bureaucracy and reformism to erode social support for the revolution. Nonetheless, they combine all forms of struggle and, they are reinforcing also the military front with the tacit support of the Colombian bourgeoisie. For the moment, this is used basically to threaten, intimidate and discredit. But if tomorrow the situation changes and permits and pushes them, it is possible they will try to intervene against the revolution supported by the Colombian oligarchy.