We are joining voices with social organizations and communities in resistance in order to declare loud and strong: the conflict in Colombia is part of an imperialist war, financed and fuelled by the economic interests of the North. Our international development agency plays a role by drafting legislation in Colombia that favours foreign companies. Our Conservative government has signed a free trade agreement, legitimatizing the paramilitary state and proclaiming Colombia a 'democracy'. Our companies (mining and oil in particular) demand the protection of their investments in Colombia through military brigades charged with protecting mines and pipelines; through paramilitary troops that 'clean up' areas through massacres and forced displacements; and through killers for hire that target unions. Our agricultural products are dumped onto Colombia at low prices that destroy small farmers and the local economy.
Unfortunately, the list goes on... To it, we add Medoro Resources, for its attempt to displace the entire village of Marmato, (in the department of Caldas), in order to build an open pit mine. We add Greystar, for its project in Santurban, which will lead to the contamination of the regional water table. We add Canadian oil companies like Petrobank, Petrominerales and Grantierra, for the colonization of the Amazon, environmental destruction, and for the displacement of local populations.