COLOMBIA: Four things you should know about Colombia's armed conflict
CPTnet
22 May 2012
COLOMBIA: Four things you should know about Colombia's armed conflict
by Chris Knestrick
Contrary to what major world news sources say, the war in Colombia is about more than drugs. So much of what the global north consumes comes from Colombia—flowers, bananas, coffee, chocolate, gold, oil, coal, palm oil—so why do we know so little about this country? The war in Colombia has been raging for the last forty-eight years, which begs the question, "why?" To get to the heart of that question, here are four things everyone should know about Colombia's armed conflict.
1. First and foremost, the war is about land.
Over the course of the war, the people that have benefited most from the conflict have been the multinational corporations and large landowners. Colombia has the largest internally displaced population in the world. Around 5,000,000 people have fled their homes. The majority of these people were small farmers who left their farms to take refuge in urban centers. This displacement has left land vacant for multinational companies and rich land owners. According to Peace Brigades International, "40% of Colombia's land has been licensed to, or is being solicited by, multinational companies in order to develop mineral and crude oil mining projects." Furthermore, about .4% of the landowners own 61% of the land.
2. Human rights defenders continue to risk their lives by nonviolently struggling for justice and attempting to return to their land.
Colombians continue to call for justice and peace for their communities. Many community leaders are risking their lives to defend their land and seek justice for their lost loved ones. For example, according to Colombia's leading organization on displacement, CODHES, between March 2002 and January 2011, forty-four displaced community leaders who were attempting to return to their land were killed. Moreover, the organization "Somos Defensores" documented that there were 239 violent attacks against human rights defenders in 2011. The same year, forty-nine human rights defenders were killed in Colombia.
3. It is the most dangerous place for a union organizer in the world.
| Names of assassinated Coca Cola union members |
More union members are killed in Colombia than in the rest of the world combined. In October, the United States and Colombia signed a Free Trade Agreement that will ensure the ongoing extraction of natural resources and the continued threats to the security of union members. Over 2,500 trade unionists have been killed in Colombia in the last 20 years and in 98% of the cases, no one was brought to justice. Human rights organizations brought these concerns to the US and Colombian governments before the signing of the FTA and the Labor Action Plan, meant to secure the rights of union workers. However, worker rights have deteriorated. In 2011, thirty trade unionists were murdered and four unionists have been killed thus far in 2012.
4. The United States has given billions of dollars in military aid to Colombia
Under the disguises of the "War on Drugs" and the "War on Terror," the US government continues to pour military aid into Colombia and train Colombia soldiers in counter-insurgency warfare, while human rights abuses continue.
Since the implementation of Plan Colombia in 2000, the United States has given six billion dollars in military aid, mostly to fight the "War on Drugs." However, many experts say that this policy is a proven failure. Furthermore, a recent report by the Fellowship of Reconciliation notes that “U.S. officials neglected their obligation under the Leahy Law [which prohibits U.S. aid going to battalions that commit human rights abuses], and that many Colombian military units committed even more extrajudicial killings during and after the highest levels of U.S. assistance to those units."
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