https://znetwork.org/category/place/latin-america/central-america/colombia/ Independent Left News, Analysis, Vision and Strategy Sun, 07 Dec 2025 15:49:30 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://znetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-Z_logo_512-32x32.png https://znetwork.org/category/place/latin-america/central-america/colombia/ 32 32 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/colombia-is-showing-the-world-how-to-end-israeli-impunity/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/colombia-is-showing-the-world-how-to-end-israeli-impunity/#respond Sun, 07 Dec 2025 15:49:23 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1292117 Since losing his US visa for comments he made at a pro-Palestine rally in New York City, Colombian president Gustavo Petro has not backed down. After Israel illegally intercepted the boats of the Global Sumud Flotilla on October 1, Petro immediately denounced the kidnapping of two Colombian citizens aboard and ordered the expulsion of the entire Israeli diplomatic delegation from his [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/colombia-is-showing-the-world-how-to-end-israeli-impunity/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/dissident-peace-in-colombia/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/dissident-peace-in-colombia/#respond Sun, 30 Nov 2025 16:30:52 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1291800 This week, we’re sharing an excerpt from Anthony Dest’s new book Dissident Peace: Autonomous Struggles and the State in Colombia, published by Stanford University Press earlier this year. The book interrogates the foundations of peace and points to the deeper questions that have—in large part— been left unresolved —Eds. On October 5, 2017, state forces [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/dissident-peace-in-colombia/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/agroecology-as-resistance-and-care-in-colombia/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/agroecology-as-resistance-and-care-in-colombia/#respond Fri, 07 Nov 2025 17:30:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1290973 The green mountains surrounding the city of Medellín, in the Antioquia region of Colombia, are home to a broad network of cooperatives that continue to serve as a testament to perseverance and creativity over three decades after their founding. To describe this social weaving, I’ll choose one of its threads and trace it, so as [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/agroecology-as-resistance-and-care-in-colombia/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/colombia-hague-group-meeting-in-bogota-commits-to-sanction-israel/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/colombia-hague-group-meeting-in-bogota-commits-to-sanction-israel/#respond Thu, 24 Jul 2025 15:50:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1286558 Ministers and officials from 32 countries met in Colombia’s capital, Bogotá, on July 15–16 to develop strategies to stop Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. The “emergency conference” was organised by the Hague Group — an alliance of countries formed in January  to hold Israel accountable under international law — in light of the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/colombia-hague-group-meeting-in-bogota-commits-to-sanction-israel/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-revolutionary-shift-is-underway/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-revolutionary-shift-is-underway/#respond Sat, 19 Jul 2025 13:04:51 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1286395 Excellencies, Friends,  I express my appreciation to the government of Colombia and South Africa for convening this group, and to all members of the Hague Group, its founding members for their principled stance, and the others who are joining. May you keep growing and so the strength and effectiveness of your concrete actions.  Thank you [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-revolutionary-shift-is-underway/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/to-bogota/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/to-bogota/#respond Sun, 13 Jul 2025 15:14:54 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1286137 This week, more than 25 states from around the world will gather in Bogotá, Colombia, for the “Emergency Conference” to halt the Gaza genocide: the most ambitious multilateral response since Israel began its campaign of devastation two years ago. “The Bogotá conference will go down as the moment in history that states finally stood up [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/to-bogota/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/agrarian-reform-moves-forward-despite-land-grabbers/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/agrarian-reform-moves-forward-despite-land-grabbers/#respond Tue, 24 Jun 2025 16:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1285408 Under President Gustavo Petro, Colombia has made unprecedented progress in agrarian reform, distributing 570,000 hectares of land to peasants. The government has also reclaimed illegally occupied land, including properties tied to paramilitary leaders, while exposing alarming land inequality: 65% of fertile land is controlled by just 1% of owners. Government makes great strides in agrarian [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/agrarian-reform-moves-forward-despite-land-grabbers/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/activists-mobilize-in-colombias-cities-in-support-of-petros-labor-reforms/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/activists-mobilize-in-colombias-cities-in-support-of-petros-labor-reforms/#respond Wed, 21 May 2025 16:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1284050 Supporters of Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro have organized the first community council meetings that seek to muster popular support for a referendum on labor reforms. Petro called on the people to organize the assemblies after the Senate sunk the referendum in what the government called a fraudulent vote on Thursday. In the same session, the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/activists-mobilize-in-colombias-cities-in-support-of-petros-labor-reforms/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-oilworkers-plan/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-oilworkers-plan/#respond Sun, 11 May 2025 10:31:16 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1283600 “Energy is the principal geopolitical dispute of our time.” So began the Progressive International’s workshop this weekend in Bogotá, convened by the Unión Sindical Obrera de la Industria del Petróleo (Petroleum Industry Workers’ Union, USO) to chart a course to “Colombia’s Energy Sovereignty.” The opening speech was delivered by Andrés Camacho, until recently the country’s [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-oilworkers-plan/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/inside-the-indigenous-land-back-movement-in-colombia/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/inside-the-indigenous-land-back-movement-in-colombia/#respond Fri, 09 May 2025 10:59:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1283551 Sharing a border with Ecuador and Peru, the southern Colombian department of Putumayo takes its name from the Quechua term for “gushing river.” For some, its landscapes are a sacred doorway to the Amazon rainforest, a world unfathomably greater than the human. For others, however, this land looks more like oilfields and military bases, optimized [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/inside-the-indigenous-land-back-movement-in-colombia/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/colombia-wants-to-phase-out-fossil-fuels/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/colombia-wants-to-phase-out-fossil-fuels/#respond Mon, 31 Mar 2025 16:04:49 +0000 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/colombia-wants-to-phase-out-fossil-fuels/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/feminists-on-the-move-in-bogota/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/feminists-on-the-move-in-bogota/#respond Sat, 15 Mar 2025 13:49:15 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1281088 This year’s International Women’s Day march in Bogotá began in a distinct spot, at the intersection where Calle 45 crosses one of the city’s most important avenues. Feminists gathered there beside a large mural in which yellow letters spell out the phrase “Las Cuchas are right,” using a slang term for “old ladies” that can [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/feminists-on-the-move-in-bogota/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trump-attacks-colombia-and-its-president-gustavo-petro-fights-back-we-are-not-a-colony/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trump-attacks-colombia-and-its-president-gustavo-petro-fights-back-we-are-not-a-colony/#respond Mon, 27 Jan 2025 16:42:43 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1278961 Donald Trump has kicked off his second administration with a very aggressive foreign policy. Trump is threatening trade restrictions and sanctions on countries around the world, including 100% tariffs on BRICS countries, which now represent 55% of the world population. The US president wants to colonize Greenland. He also vowed to take over the Panama Canal. Invoking [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trump-attacks-colombia-and-its-president-gustavo-petro-fights-back-we-are-not-a-colony/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/women-led-fish-farming-in-colombia-becomes-alternative-to-drug-crops/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/women-led-fish-farming-in-colombia-becomes-alternative-to-drug-crops/#respond Tue, 10 Dec 2024 17:01:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1276918 The Amazon rainforest in southern Colombia stretches lush and green across the horizon, but beneath its dense canopy lies a shifting reality. The southern province of Putumayo – a remote region bordering Ecuador, at the edge of the country’s Amazon – has long been dominated by coca plantations and burdened by the perennial shadow of [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/women-led-fish-farming-in-colombia-becomes-alternative-to-drug-crops/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/activist-killings-in-colombia-critical-context-for-the-cop-16/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/activist-killings-in-colombia-critical-context-for-the-cop-16/#respond Sat, 19 Oct 2024 15:08:56 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1273948 Colombia’s biodiversity is as varied and enormous as the panorama of violence facing those fighting to conserve it. But the Colombian state appears to have forgotten the plight of land defenders, who are facing unprecedented attacks against their organizing. This was evidenced in the latest report published by Global Witness, which relies on the work [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/activist-killings-in-colombia-critical-context-for-the-cop-16/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/gustavo-petro-the-politicians-of-the-future-and-the-blockages-of-the-present/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/gustavo-petro-the-politicians-of-the-future-and-the-blockages-of-the-present/#respond Tue, 15 Oct 2024 16:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1273704 Recent times have given plenty of reason for pessimism. There have been many strong threats to three sources of stability and civility in social relations: democracy, peace and the minimum guarantee of ecological sustainability. The spirit of time, while degrading institutions, relations between citizens and the state and relations between states, also degrades relations between [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/gustavo-petro-the-politicians-of-the-future-and-the-blockages-of-the-present/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/women-who-search-for-the-disappeared-are-changing-what-it-means-to-be-a-victim/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/women-who-search-for-the-disappeared-are-changing-what-it-means-to-be-a-victim/#respond Sat, 31 Aug 2024 18:13:12 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1271624 There is a small bird in Colombia that’s famous for fighting off large hawks to protect its young: the sirirí. This is the origin of the name of “Operation Sirirí,” which is what Fabiola Lalinde christened her tireless effort to learn the truth about the disappearance of her son, Luis Fernando, in 1984. Her work [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/women-who-search-for-the-disappeared-are-changing-what-it-means-to-be-a-victim/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/wests-ukraine-summit-failed-global-south-rejected-pro-war-peace-conference/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/wests-ukraine-summit-failed-global-south-rejected-pro-war-peace-conference/#respond Wed, 19 Jun 2024 16:07:03 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1268064 The Western powers held a conference in Switzerland in June in an attempt to gain more international support for Ukraine in its war with Russia. The vast majority of the world population, in the Global South, rebuked this so-called “Summit on Peace in Ukraine”, to which Russia was not invited. Only 78 countries, mostly in [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/wests-ukraine-summit-failed-global-south-rejected-pro-war-peace-conference/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/colombias-coal-embargo-on-israel-is-a-model-to-follow/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/colombias-coal-embargo-on-israel-is-a-model-to-follow/#respond Tue, 18 Jun 2024 16:30:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1268025 On June 8, Colombian president Gustavo Petro announced that his country will suspend coal exports to Israel until the genocide stops. Colombian coal accounted for more than 60 percent of all coal supplied to Israel in 2023, and the Israeli power grid depends on coal for 22 percent of its output. The same grid supplies [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/colombias-coal-embargo-on-israel-is-a-model-to-follow/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/colombians-welcome-chiquitas-guilty-verdict-but-thousands-more-deserve-justice/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/colombians-welcome-chiquitas-guilty-verdict-but-thousands-more-deserve-justice/#respond Sat, 15 Jun 2024 18:19:23 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1267876 Chiquita, a Swiss-domiciled U.S. transnational corporation that is one of the world’s largest producers of bananas, has recently been found guilty in a Florida court for funding paramilitaries in the South American country of Colombia. On June 10, in the case Doe v. Chiquita Brands International, a jury declared that the corporation, which has headquarters in [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/colombians-welcome-chiquitas-guilty-verdict-but-thousands-more-deserve-justice/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/chiquita-ordered-to-pay-colombian-families-38-million-for-backing-death-squads/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/chiquita-ordered-to-pay-colombian-families-38-million-for-backing-death-squads/#respond Wed, 12 Jun 2024 16:56:47 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1267733 In a landmark case in Florida, a federal jury has ordered Chiquita Brands International to pay over $38 million in damages to the families of eight Colombian men who were killed by paramilitaries the banana giant funded. Chiquita previously pleaded guilty to paying the far-right United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia paramilitary group, or AUC, $1.7 million [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/chiquita-ordered-to-pay-colombian-families-38-million-for-backing-death-squads/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/as-reservoirs-go-dry-mexico-city-and-bogota-are-staring-down-day-zero/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/as-reservoirs-go-dry-mexico-city-and-bogota-are-staring-down-day-zero/#respond Mon, 10 Jun 2024 16:04:46 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1267650 In Mexico City, more and more residents are watching their taps go dry for hours a day. Even when water does flow, it often comes out dark brown and smells noxious. A former political leader is asking the public to “prioritize essential actions for survival” as the city’s key reservoirs run dry. Meanwhile, 2,000 miles south in [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/as-reservoirs-go-dry-mexico-city-and-bogota-are-staring-down-day-zero/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-colombian-left-has-every-reason-to-condemn-israel/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-colombian-left-has-every-reason-to-condemn-israel/#respond Mon, 06 May 2024 16:30:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1265982 On International Workers’ Day, Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s first left-wing president,  announced that the country would sever diplomatic ties with Israel over its ongoing genocidal assault on Gaza. “Tomorrow we will break diplomatic relations with the state of Israel for having a government, for having a president who is genocidal. . . . If Palestine dies, humanity dies,” [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-colombian-left-has-every-reason-to-condemn-israel/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/colombias-left-government-is-pursuing-ambitious-labor-reform/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/colombias-left-government-is-pursuing-ambitious-labor-reform/#respond Sat, 24 Feb 2024 14:23:31 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1262642 Over the past few months, Colombian pop star Shakira’s newest song, “El Jefe,” has taken off throughout Latin America, highlighting the intense economic inequality and exploitation in the region. Perhaps surprisingly, the song has a fan in the upper echelons of power — Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s first leftist president. First on Twitter/X and later at a rally in Bogotá’s [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/colombias-left-government-is-pursuing-ambitious-labor-reform/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/colombias-right-is-trying-to-soft-coup-gustavo-petro/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/colombias-right-is-trying-to-soft-coup-gustavo-petro/#respond Mon, 19 Feb 2024 17:22:11 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1262451 It was expected that Colombia’s elites, who had enjoyed a monopoly over the state for two hundred consecutive years up until twenty months ago, would attempt to obstruct the left-wing President Gustavo Petro’s administration. This effort to undermine the process of change mandated by the majority of Colombians has involved everything from misinformation campaigns to the blocking of [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/colombias-right-is-trying-to-soft-coup-gustavo-petro/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/colombias-gustavo-petro-faces-concerted-right-wing-assault/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/colombias-gustavo-petro-faces-concerted-right-wing-assault/#respond Sun, 11 Feb 2024 16:23:06 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1262042 ]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/colombias-gustavo-petro-faces-concerted-right-wing-assault/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/colombia-strengthens-regional-economies-and-promotes-cooperation-instead-of-competition/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/colombia-strengthens-regional-economies-and-promotes-cooperation-instead-of-competition/#respond Thu, 18 Jan 2024 16:45:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1260921 Latin America is emerging as the place to look for alternatives to the neoliberal economic system. In Colombia, the Gustavo Petro led government has spent the last year restructuring the previously isolated sector of small businesses and cooperatives. Petro wants to shift away from this model, and into a solidarity-based system.  The German-language Latin America [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/colombia-strengthens-regional-economies-and-promotes-cooperation-instead-of-competition/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-working-class-victory-on-colombias-horizon/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-working-class-victory-on-colombias-horizon/#respond Wed, 10 Jan 2024 17:34:53 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1260497 The Seventh Committee of the House of Representatives voted to approve 16 of the 98 articles of the landmark Labor Reform bill right before the start of winter recess. The bill will now advance to a second round of legislative debates that will resume next month. This is great news for the workers movement: Labor [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-working-class-victory-on-colombias-horizon/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/in-gustavo-petros-colombia-a-new-plan-is-promoting-green-energy-and-indigenous-rights/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/in-gustavo-petros-colombia-a-new-plan-is-promoting-green-energy-and-indigenous-rights/#respond Sat, 06 Jan 2024 15:35:58 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1260313 Colombian president Gustavo Petro has just declared a one-month economic, social, and environmental emergency in the country’s La Guajira region. By declaring the situation an emergency, President Petro, who spent one week in the region in order to expedite the paperwork and ensure the implementation of the emergency measures, was able to pass laws that [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/in-gustavo-petros-colombia-a-new-plan-is-promoting-green-energy-and-indigenous-rights/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/against-the-odds-colombias-gustavo-petro-implemented-ambitious-left-policies/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/against-the-odds-colombias-gustavo-petro-implemented-ambitious-left-policies/#comments Sun, 17 Sep 2023 12:19:19 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1254198 Just over a year ago, no one would have thought Colombia could provide an example of a leftist governing model. On the contrary, the nation has long been the bastion of classic liberal-democratic rule in South American — falling to neither left-wing revolution nor the bloody right-wing dictatorships experienced by its neighbors. Colombia’s close relations [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/against-the-odds-colombias-gustavo-petro-implemented-ambitious-left-policies/feed/ 1