Tue Mar 19, 2024
March 19, 2024

Yankees Go Home: No More Troops or Military Bases in Colombia

Showing the Colombian Government’s lackey character, the U.S. Embassy announced that a U.S. Army Security Force Assistance Brigade, SFAB, has just arrived and will be conducting operations in Colombian territory for 4 months.

By: Executive Committee – PST      May 28, 2020

 

800 Yankee soldiers are in Colombia without the Duque government having even requested authorization from the U.S. Congress. On the contrary, the military leadership is being put at the service of the U.S. troops, who will be in territories that have been ravaged by abandonment and armed conflict for four months.

Without any hesitation, Admiral Craig Faller, commander in chief of the United States Southern Command, said: “The SFAB mission in Colombia is an opportunity to show our mutual commitment against drug trafficking and support for regional peace, respect for sovereignty and the lasting promise to defend shared ideals and values.

The U.S. soldiers are present in the so-called Future Zones, which were launched by the Duque government as a complement to the so-called Territorially Focused Development Programmes, TDPs, which are the result of the FARC demobilisation process. The Future Zones are: Pacífico Nariñense, Catatumbo, Bajo Cauca and southern Córdoba, Arauca and Chiribiquete.

The presence of the US military in these zones, which constitute 2.4% of the national territory, is a violation of sovereignty and a mockery of Colombian institutions and legislation, which states that the presence of foreign troops must have permission from the Colombian Congress.

 

Colombian “sovereignty”

In reality, in spite of what the regulations say, there is no sovereignty in Colombia, but rather the country has a semi-colonial relationship with the United States. The U.S. Army owns 51 buildings in Colombia and leases 24 more, which add up to more than 50 thousand square meters. In addition, they act as “advisors” to the military leadership, when in fact they have them under their command.

The current mission of 800 military personnel will have under its command the joint task forces Hercules, Vulcano and Omega of the Colombian Military Forces, and will supposedly be in anti-narcotics operations, but recent events in which a mercenary action was planned to make an imperialist incursion into Venezuela, increase suspicions about the participation of the Colombian state in such action.

 

Useless and dangerous

There is also fear among the population because of the treaties that prevent the prosecution of the U.S. military for their crimes. We must remember that in the Tolemaida base more than 50 girls were raped by US soldiers who today enjoy impunity in their country, without the Colombian Government having at least spoken out. Therefore, the presence of these troops not only violates sovereignty, but is a real danger to the women and girls of these territories, as well as being another threat to social fighters.

Additionally, the excuse with which they are brought in to fight drug trafficking falls apart when we know that it is the Colombian political class itself that runs that business and that the United States is the main consumer. The policies of forced eradication or persecution only increase the cost of drugs, increasing the profitability of the business and leaving a wave of death in its path. The only solution to the problem of drug trafficking is the legalization and nationalization of the drug business. This “fight” is nothing more than an excuse to continue taking possession of territories in the semi-colonies and a provocation against neighboring Venezuela.

 

Yankees go home !

In view of the scandalous presence of the U.S. troops in Colombia, the Democratic Center has stated that it is an “endorsement” to the anti-drug struggle, corroborated by the presence of the imperial troops in our territory. For its part, reformism has rejected this presence because it has not fulfilled the procedure in the Congress of the Republic as the law dictates.

For socialists, the imperialist interference in Colombia is inadmissible. We understand the presence of these 800 soldiers as an aggression against our sovereignty and demand their immediate withdrawal. The working class in Colombia cannot accept the fact that the U.S. Army with the collaboration of the Colombian Army continues to attack the communities of the so-called Future Zones, much less serve as a platform for intervention in Venezuela.

For this reason, once again we must reject the presence of the troops, demand the withdrawal of the yankee military bases, and denounce this government that is taking advantage of the pandemic to continue with the systematic murder of social fighters, precisely in the areas where they have the greatest military presence.

 

Translation: Blas ( Corriente Obrera LIT – CI )

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