Author: Oliver Dodd

Amid intensifying state repression, Colombia’s ELN imposes an ‘armed strike’

OLIVER DODD reports on the National Liberation Army’s general strike backed up with guns FOR 72 hours in February, transport and industry across Colombia was severely impaired as militants lent the weight of their weapons to anti-neoliberal protesters. Causing massive damage to capitalist accumulation, uniquely, the ELN’s aim was to persuade Colombia’s government and dominant… Read More Amid intensifying state repression, Colombia’s ELN imposes an ‘armed strike’

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Colombia’s 2016 peace agreement is in crisis, despite the commitment of Comunes

In 2017 Colombia’s Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) gave up its weapons and began a process of demobilisation, based on a 2016 peace agreement which promised the Farc political legitimacy and protection from capitalist-backed paramilitary violence, as well as comprehensive rural reform for the benefit of peasants. Highlighting that the exploitation and victimisation of… Read More Colombia’s 2016 peace agreement is in crisis, despite the commitment of Comunes

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Death squads in Colombia – paid for by big business

Throughout Colombia’s half-century civil war, wealthy social sectors, especially landowners, have sponsored the formation of private armed groups to act as a counter-measure against the labour movement to protect their interests. These paramilitaries have generally employed violence and terror as a conscious weapon against civilians. The objective has been to make workers too afraid to… Read More Death squads in Colombia – paid for by big business

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Why Latin America’s oldest insurgent communist army is growing

Embedded researcher OLIVER DODD, who lived among the armed guerilla forces of the ELN, explains their origins, theory and practice Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN) is Latin America’s oldest insurgent movement. When founded in 1964, the ELN was, strategically and tactically speaking, inspired by the Cuban Revolution, which proved that a determined and well-organised political-military… Read More Why Latin America’s oldest insurgent communist army is growing

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Why has Colombia’s government ended peace talks with Marxist rebels ELN?

SINCE 2017, Colombia’s government and the left-wing National Liberation Army (ELN) have been publicly engaged in peace talks to end 54 years of armed conflict. But following the inauguration of right-wing president Ivan Duque in August 2018, a man who vowed to end peace talks during his presidential campaign, Colombia’s new government has since canceled… Read More Why has Colombia’s government ended peace talks with Marxist rebels ELN?

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