Jorge Enrique Robledo
Senator, Republic of Colombia
December 20, 2009

1. I will accuse Colombia’s Inspector General Alejandro Ordóñez of Perversion of the Justice System both as a criminal offense, before the Colombian Office of the Attorney General, and as a disciplinary violation, before the Colombian Supreme Court, because of his decision on December 14, 2009, to turn the “preliminary inquiry” he initiated against me on June 10, 2009, into the “opening of a disciplinary investigation.” In addition I will ask the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to investigate the aggression being perpetrated against me.

Jorge Enrique Robledo, Senador de la República de Colombia, Bogotá, diciembre 19 de 2009

1. Acusaré por el delito de prevaricato a Alejandro Ordóñez, Procurador General de la Nación. En lo penal, lo haré ante la Fiscalía, y en lo disciplinario, ante la Corte Suprema de Justicia, porque este funcionario, el 14 de diciembre pasado, convirtió en “apertura de investigación disciplinaria” la “indagación preliminar” que en contra mía inició el 10 de junio de 2009. Además, le solicitaré a la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos que investigue la agresión de la que estoy siendo víctima.

Written by Michèal Ó Tuathail and Manuel Rozental

November 5, 2009

Last fall, Colombia’s social and popular movements captured the world’s attention. Emerging initially from the indigenous territories in Northern Cauca and expanding to unite diverse sectors, the Social and Community Minga [1] burst onto the national and international scene with a popular agenda for radical change, a “country of the peoples without owners” [2]. The collective screams of the indigenous movement, Afro-Colombian communities, women’s, worker, student and other social organizations across the country reached a fever pitch, garnering much attention from abroad. A year later, the Minga appears to have arrived at a crossroads, where a once powerful popular agenda risks being manipulated in favour of a narrow and domesticating one. While its capacity to mobilize remains strong, the Minga’s direction is increasingly contested.

"Pocos artistas han explicado de manera tan clara como Juan Manuel Echavarría la violencia colombiana. La masacre de Bojayá, el secuestro de la Iglesia de La María y ahora, la guerra vista por los victimarios. La metáfora de la guerra.

by Noam Chomsky

September 15, 2009

The United States was founded as an “infant empire,” in the words of George Washington. The conquest of the national territory was a grand imperial venture. From the earliest days, control over the hemisphere was a critical goal.

Raúl Arroyave Arango, Director Dpto. Relaciones Internacionales de la CUT, Informativo CUT, Bogotá, julio 25 de 2009

La existencia de un ejército industrial de reserva es connatural al modo capitalista de producción. El desplazamiento de los trabajadores del proceso de producción conduce a que en los países capitalistas se formen ejércitos de los sin trabajo. A su conformación contribuye el desarrollo infinito de las fuerzas productivas, y los avances en las ciencias y la tecnología, factores que inciden en la ley de la composición orgánica del capital, de tal forma que a medida que aumenta el capital constante referido a infraestructura, inversiones materiales y máquinas más modernas se disminuye el capital variable, conformado por las inversiones en mano de obra asalariada. ... [para leer el informe completo ver el archivo adjunto]

August 10, 2009

Dear President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton,

The United States government’s decision to obtain concessions for the use of multiple military bases in Colombia is a matter of grave concern to us. Given that the appalling record of human rights abuses under President Uribe's government has led President Obama’s administration to place conditions on its support for the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, it makes no sense for the administration to turn around and offer backing to that regime by increasing U.S. military presence in Colombia. [Please see attachment to continue.]

Polo Democrático Alternativo, PDA
National Executive Committee
http://www.polodemocratico.net/

Bogotá, July 30, 2009

1. The government of Alvaro Uribe has announced a decision to grant the United States the use of military bases on national territory by way of an agreement that would place all of the Colombian land mass at U.S. disposal for all types of military operations inside and outside of our country. Within Colombia a foreign army would become involved in the internal armed conflict thereby exacerbating confrontation and making peace more elusive. Colombia would also become a military stationing platform for aggressive expansion of the North American world power in our region, impacting the stability of neighboring democratic and progressive governments and interfering with important plans toward the integration of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Is Obama Showing His True Colors?

By Eduardo García Aguilar

Six months after taking office, and receiving high praise worldwide, the administration of Barack Obama—or the interests behind the curtain—are beginning to show their true colors with regard to foreign policy in Latin America. It is clear that the recent controversies in the region, such as the coup in Honduras and conversion of Colombia into multiple U.S. military bases, are part of a strategy that aims to change the tendency that had been gradually imposed throughout the Latin American continent as George W. Bush neglected his own backyard while bombing the other side of the Atlantic and torturing in Guantánamo.

Since 2007 corporate media in the United States have vigorously promoted the passage of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, and coverage of this topic by the Los Angeles Times is representative of the media campaign in general.