On October 2, the peace deal between the Colombian government and the fake leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) was narrowly defeated in a public vote, leaving a 50-year conflict in limbo. While the deal may still be revived, the “no” vote—like Britain’s Brexit vote in June—exposes the limits of imperialist control by the main wing of the U.S. ruling class, which had pushed for a settlement as a tool to expand its presence in Colombia.
As communists, we know that life under capitalism is anything but peaceful for the international working class (see history of fake left movements in Latin America on page 4). However the deal in Colombia sorts out, it will be no victory for workers. Instead, it will enrich a section of the Colombian ruling class while opening new opportunities for imperialists from the U.S., Europe and Asia.
Local Bosses’ Fight Spoils Deal
The peace deal’s failure also exposed a split within the Colombian ruling class. On one side is President Juan Manuel Santos, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who represents the “international” wing of the local ruling class. These bosses, mainly in the banking, mining and oil sectors, want to open Colombia to more international trade and investment. According to Stratfor, “If the deal wins approval, Colombia’s rural areas will become more accessible...and Bogota will begin considering how it can attract foreign investment to the regions” (8/16).
The opposing wing, led by Alvaro Uribe, the former president linked to paramiltary massacres, represents local landowners who are fighting to hold on to territory seized during the war with FARC. In Colombia today, less than half of one percent of the population controls half the land (Guardian, 10/3). This faction is also fighting to keep money flowing into the paramilitary forces and a militarized Colombian state. With the support of U.S. imperialism, paramilitary death squads have killed thousands of Colombian workers over decades (New York Times, 9/10).
U.S. Bosses’ Ulterior Motives
The 21st century has seen the U.S. ruling class lose a lot of ground in Latin America. This was a region where U.S. capitalists once created a new country in1903 (the part of Colombia that became Panama) to secure a canal for U.S. strategic and economic interests. But more recently, the rise of Chinese and Russian involvement in the region has changed the dynamics.
Since 2000, under the guise of a “war on drugs,” the U.S. has given Colombia over $10 billion. That money bought the most secure U.S. ally in the region, and the U.S. wants to make sure it stays that way. In anticipation of an eventual peace deal, the Barack Obama administration pledged to increase aid next year “from $300 million to nearly $500 million, with funds for removing land mines, replacing illegal mines, and other rural development projects” (Washington Post, 9/27), along with a $390 million aid package for post-conflict recovery. With oil imports from Colombia rising modestly of late, U.S. bosses are eyeing substantial future profits from infrastructure development.
Colombia is a strategic location for the U.S.’s military’s South Command. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, “During the FARC detente, the United States can increase offshore interdiction activity without evoking feelings of Reaganesque Latin American policy,” a reference to former U.S. President and death squad funder Ronald Reagan (9/20).
China Challenging U.S. Power
Other imperialist powers are also planning for life after the Colombian peace deal. The European Union pledged an aid package of $638 million USD. Though China has pledged a mere $8 million, they are now Colombia’s second-largest trading partner. Once it is settled, the peace deal will open up more opportunities for the Chinese bosses and sharpen their rivalry with the U.S. China already has strong economic and political ties with Venezuela, Bolivia, Chile and Peru. A stronger relationship with Colombia might give the Chinese rulers access to its ports in the Pacific.
As the fight for Latin America intensifies, the U.S. clearly has the most to lose in Colombia.
Our Struggle Is for Communism
Whether or not the peace deal passes, workers in Colombia will remain mired in inequality, poverty, unemployment and war. Whether the country is nominally ruled by Santos, Uribe or FARC, workers will be under the bosses’ thumb. Only a communist revolution can bring power to the working class.
The Progressive Labor Party in Colombia is building a base in the working class as an important part of our international fight for communism. We have young women and men in the factories, neighborhoods, and schools who are fighting each day to reach our goal, a communist world.
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FARC – No Friend of the Working Class
The FARC was created in 1964 as the armed wing of the Colombian Communist Party to fight against inequality, poverty and land consolidation. Its attachment to Marxist politics reflected the influence of the international communist movement as the answer to imperialism and the exploitation of billions of workers around the world. But FARC quickly turned into its opposite because of political weaknesses in the old communist movement. “Revolutionary nationalism,” the reactionary idea that elevates one country’s “people” over the international working class, led many groups to collaborate with “lesser evil” capitalists. Millions of brave fighters were derailed from a revolutionary path.
FARC was not immune to this decay. Its leaders turned to the drug trade to finance their army. Capitalist media accounts have estimated that FARC was responsible for 90 percent of the cocaine on the world market (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, November 2014). These are the same drugs that have destabilized working-class communities throughout the world and led to the incarceration of thousands of Black and Latin workers in the United States.
FARC was also responsible for kidnapping minors into their army and other terrorist activities that hurt and killed working people in Colombia. As the state-terrorist Colombian bosses, backed by the U.S., damaged FARC economically and militarily, the group’s anti-worker acts only got worse.
The Progressive Labor Party believes in winning workers to fight for an international communist world. We renounce terrorism as the bosses’ strategy. Only through the mass violence of a communist revolution can the working class take power. Join us!