Santos and FARC begin peace talks in Oslo

Humberto de la Calle and Co.

Colombia peace negotiations have begun in Oslo today. Humberto de la Calle, represents the Colombian government, which arrived to Oslo yesterday with “hope...moderate optimism”. On the side of the FARC is Luciano Marín Arango, alias Ivan Márquez.  Other FARC representatives include Simon Trinidad, who is currently serving a 60 year sentence for kidnapping in the U.S., and Dutch national Tanja Nijmeijer, who joined in 2000 and is wanted by both the U.S. and the EU.

 After 50 years of civil war, this is the fourth time since 1980 that peace negotiations have been tried. However, the difference between these negotiations is the focus on content, as opposed to simply territorial control and/or ceasefire. Luis Eduardo Garzón, a former communist and now Colombia’s minister of social dialogue, who is involved in the peace process says “I am optimistic now because ... this president has set a concrete agenda,”. The five issues on the agenda in Oslo are listed:

1) rural and land development
2) guarantees for political participation
3) drug trafficking
4) the rights of the victims
5) end of the armed conflict

Negotiations are coming at a moment when the FARC has found itself in the defensive in the last decade, especially since the implementation of “Plan Colombia”. This blog has always argued that “Plan Colombia” is a military free trade agreement. In other words, doing war with the FARC is a business doctrine; and “Plan Colombia” was the privatization of that business to the U.S. In the last 12 years since its inception, the FARC have gone from an 18,000 strong unit that controlled a third of the country, to numbering at 8,000 and controlling only marginal sections of the Colombian jungle and small towns near the border of Ecuador and Venezuela respectively. The deaths of top FARC leaders including Raul Reyes in 2008, Manuel Marulanda in 2008 (heart attack), Mono Jojoy in 2010, and Alfonso Cano in 2011, has severely crippled the old guard leadership of the FARC.

Simon Trinidad

In the economic sphere, Colombia has found itself desperately trying to become the second C of the “BRIC” nations. Colombia’s GDP expanded 4.9% inthe second quarter of 2012, partially led by the booming oil and coal industry, whose profits have risen on the fact that Colombians pay 8,000 pesos a gallon ($4).  Unemployment hovers at 10%, one of the highest in South America. New tax codes discussed in congress this week is attempting to tackle inequality. The plan is to exempt the lowest of income earners from paying income taxes. Colombia, compared to other Latin American nations, is one of the most unequal. Colombia's macroeconomic solution has been to continue opening its door to international investment, specifically; President Juan Manuel Santos has been keen to bringing in Chinese investments (infrastructure), much to the concern of the U.S. Obviously, solving the civil war puzzle would be a huge boosts to investments and international credit ratings.

But not all sections of the ruling elite of Colombia are in agreement with the peace process. Ex-president Alvaro Uribe has spoken out against the Santos administration for "dealing with terrorists". Meanwhile media outlets like RCN and Caracol have spoken on the peace negotiations in a belittling demeanor. This should come as no surprise, there is a split in the ruling class of Colombia on which way forward for capital and economic development. One section sees peace with the guerrillas and a diversification of the economy, i.e. a deeper relationship with China and Brasil, as a top priority. The other section, personified by Uribe and Co. are the hardliners who see the economic, political and social advantage of being at "war with terrorists" and who primarily see the U.S. as their main trading partner. 

Late 2011, students protest "education reform" in Bogota.

The outcome of the negotiations at Oslo, assisted by Cuba, Venezuela and Chile, will prove to be a deciding factory on President Santos' legacy. It will also dictate on how millions of Colombians will be able to live their lives. Peace will help rebuild a much needed left in Colombia. In a country where anything left-of-center is attacked as "chavista", getting rid of the bogey man "FARC", is crucial in the building of new left, a left that to date has been led by political leaders like Piedad Cordoba, Antonio Navarro and Gustavo Petro and by student activists in Bogota and Cali, who last year led militant marches confronting Santos' attempt at further privatizing education. 

The Witch Hunt of Senator Piedad Cordoba

The Colombia government, led by the Santos administration is once again going after politicians who differ on their approach to dealing with the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia). An once again the target is Senator Piedad Cordoba from the Colombian Liberal Party. 

The evidence against her is in Raul Reyes' famous laptop that some how survived an intense shoot out in the jungles of Ecuador. The same laptop that links Hugo Chavez to the FARC. This is political maneuvering by the Attorney General. Of course, Cordoba has contacts with the FARC, so does hundred of journalists who visit their camps on a weekly basis. Moreover, her connection with the FARC has led to the release of 12 hostages in the last few years. 

The mainstream press quickly celebrated the decision of the attorney general reached just after midnight today, to banish her from the senate, and viewed it as yet another blow to the guerrillas. It's disgusting to see the celebration of someone being criminalized for having a social justice approach to bringing peace to Colombia. We need to go beyond CARACOL & RCN News. In Colombia, if you don't agree with the government, you are labeled as "the FARC", and subsequently you are demonized. It's time we rose above that and understood the root's of Colombia's problem, which the government loves to simply lay blame to the guerrillas.

Simply put, the Santos administration does not appreciate Cordoba's strategy of dialogue with the FARC because it undermines their strategy of all out war and the business behind that. The rich of Colombia depend on war with the FARC/ELN (National Liberation Army of Colombia), it's how they receive staunch financial and military support from the U.S. The FARC and the "war on terror" is a key component in the argument and justification for the countless acts of aggression towards student activists, labor leaders, the indigenous population and now to politicians who differ on the approach to peace in Colombia. We should stand in solidarity with her!

FBI Try to Intimidate Activists with Raids

The FBI raided several homes of activists in the Twin Cities and in Chicago, and also included the offices of the Anti-War Committee of Minneapolis. The goal was to find evidence that these certain activists were in some form connected with groups like the militant Muslim group Hezbollah of Lebanon, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) or the guerrillas of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia).The activists targeted worked with various different groups including, The Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), the Palestine Solidarity Group, Students for a Democratic Society, the Twin Cities Anti-War Committee, the Colombia Action Network, and the National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera (a Colombian political prisoner).

These raids are a clear violation of our democratic rights to free speech and right to organize. Furthermore, the U.S. government is no position to tell us who we can and cannot support. After all, any group or organization that is against U.S. hegemony is labeled "terrorist". The U.S. record of demonizing certain groups and individuals is long, think Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress (ANC). A united response from progressives, activists and socialists is crucial. We will not allow FBI intimidation tactics to scare us. The struggle lives on, here is what we can do to fight back,

Contact U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder at 202-353-1555 or askdoj@usdoj.gov to demand an end to the repression of antiwar and international solidarity activists.
You can join protests planned for the coming days around the country:
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 27
Minneapolis, 4:30 p.m., FBI office, 111 Washington Ave. S.
Chicago, 4:30 p.m., FBI office, 2111 W. Roosevelt Road
Kalamazoo, Mich., 4:30 p.m., Federal Building, 410 W. Michigan Ave.
Salt Lake City, 9 a.m., Federal Building
Durham, N.C., 12 Noon, Federal Building, 323 E. Chapel Hill St.
Buffalo, N.Y., 4:30 p.m., FBI office, corner of S. Elmwood Avenue and Niagra Street
Gainesville, Fla., 4:30 p.m., FBI office
Boston, 4 p.m., JFK Federal Building, Government Center
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28
New York City, 4:30 p.m., Federal Building, 26 Federal Plaza
Newark, N.J., 5 p.m., Federal Building, Broad Street
Philadelphia, 4:30 p.m., Federal Building, 6th and Market
Washington, D.C., 4:30 p.m., FBI Building, 935 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Boston, 5 p.m., JFK Federal Building
Detroit, 4:30 p.m., McNamara Federal Building, Michigan Avenue at Cass
Raleigh, N.C., 9 a.m., Federal Building, 310 New Bern Ave.
Asheville, N.C., 5 p.m., Federal Building
Atlanta, 12 Noon, FBI Building
Los Angeles, 5 p.m., Downtown Federal Building, 300 N. Los Angeles St.
Tucson, Ariz., 5 p.m., Federal Building
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29
Albany, N.Y., 5 p.m., Federal Building

Mono Jojoy is killed, Colombia's Civil War Continues

The mainstream press in Colombia and in the U.S. (Caracol, RCN, CNN) responded like a loyal choir with enthusiasm to the death of FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionaria de Colombia) guerrilla leader Mono Jojoy. Mono Jojoy had a been a leading figure in the FARC since 1976, and along with 'Raul Reyes' and 'Tirofijo', is now added to the list of killed/deceased leaders in the past five years.

The newly elected Santos administration in Colombia was quick to claim that this continues to signify the end of the FARC, and shows that the Colombia government strategy of no dialogue and all out war with guerrilla "terrorists" is working. Two points should be made to counter these claims;
1) The killings of key military figures in the FARC do not mean that they're winning. Those military leaders will simply be replaced by next best cadre. The social, political and economic situation in Colombia will continue to supply the FARC with brand new recruits.
2) The Colombian economy is financially dependent on the war against the guerrilla insurgents. It does not benefit the ruling class of Colombia to actually take up a dialogue with the FARC or the ELN (Erjecito Liberacion Nacional) because it benefits from the flow of cash entering from Washington. Additionally, the real crises of Colombia, unemployment, poverty, displacement, deforestation, assassinations of activists, and racism, are all taboo topics, because the ruling class use the FARC as scapegoats and as a diversion from other serious issues concerning working and poor people.

The forces on the left in Colombia continually face state harassment, with anyone to the left of mainstream politics labeled as 'FARC'. However, this hasn't prevented a strong social justice and peace movement from taking form. Senator Gloria Ines Ramirez of the POLO Democratico Alternativo, spoke out against the gun-ho reaction of the Santos administration, and argued for a true road to peace in Colombia by a negotiated dialogue. Nonetheless, much more pressure will need to be put on the ruling establishment to take true peace seriously. This pressure will need to come from state sector worker's who are continuously facing privatization, from displaced indigenous populations, students and poor workers who haven't seen their living standards increased amidst talk of the "new Colombia" of Alvaro Uribe, and from the massive black population who face Jim Crow style racism.