Colombia is no stranger to the political showmanship that, among other idiocies, consists of ways to persuade the public\u2014or at least to stand out from predecessors and opponents\u2014by using phrases and slogans that supposedly summarize intentions and reflect the people’s reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each person put in charge to \u00abgovern\u00bb the country brings along a slogan that reflects what will not be done for the people during the term assigned to them by the bourgeoisie\u2014not by the voters. This can be proved in the recent events. Phrases like \u201cWelcome to the Future,\u201d \u201cPeace and Social Progress,\u201d \u201cThe Peaceful Revolution,\u201d \u201cAll for a New Country,\u201d<\/em> and \u201cColombia: World Power of Life,\u201d<\/em> among others, are generally crafted with the elite circle in mind\u2014those who continue to entrench themselves in the state and drain public funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We state the above to underscore that our country does not change. If there have been any improvements, they are merely part of settling a historical debt, not victories. In rare and minimal cases, they barely bring us closer to the foundations of long-overdue change. The most recent events that support this view are the contexts and state responses in Catatumbo, southern Bol\u00edvar, Arauca, and Cauca, among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The political classes in power deny any collusion between the armed forces and paramilitary groups. They\u2019re right\u2014it\u2019s not a relationship; it\u2019s part of a state plan to suppress popular organization. This has once again been demonstrated by the arrest of an active-duty army officer in Arauca this week, who was acting as a paramilitary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although the government condemns Israel’s criminal acts against Palestine, it continues to sell them coal. Although it challenges the United States, it hands over the Gorgonas and the Amazon. Although it denounces interference in other countries, it demands voting records from Venezuela. It claims to hate war but excludes the people from addressing the root causes that lead to it. It insults capitalism as the chief evil behind the social, political, and economic crisis\u2014but abandons alliances with the people to confront the system.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n In recent days, we have witnessed the government waving the flag of a genuine, Integral and Popular Agrarian Reform to address land inequality, but at the same time attacking peasants who are reclaiming land from the claws of capitalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In light of this most recent act of state violence against peasants in Cajib\u00edo (Cauca)\u2014where the peasantry was evicted using a repressive force whose acronym was changed but not its role\u2014and similar events in other parts of the country, we hold the national government accountable and denounce, before both the national and international community, that Colombia is publicly defending capitalism, which it claims to hate in public speeches, and has turned against the peasantry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Comunicado original de la p\u00e1gina CNAcolombia.org:<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n