Left-wing presidential candidate Gustavo Petro has been fighting Colombia’s far-right paramilitaries for decades. The revelation of a recent plot to murder Petro is unsurprising, but his campaign still appears strong ahead of Sunday’s election.
The Sinú River in Colombia has provided food, water, and transportation to local people for thousands of years. In recent decades, wealthy landowners used violent force to push through construction of a dam that has caused disastrous flooding in the region.
Colombian elites are determined not to let leftist president Gustavo Petro serve out his full term. As top judicial officials target him and his cabinet, drug cartels and their links to the far right remain uninvestigated.
Colombia recently discovered mass graves in a 150-year-old cemetery in the city of Cúcuta. The bodies, many of which were smuggled in during this century, reveal connections between right-wing militias, business, and the state.
With elections weeks away, Colombian politics are polarizing and the country’s historic peace agreement is at risk.
In Colombia, a mass movement has emerged to challenge the government’s neoliberal policies and failure to honor its historic peace agreement with the FARC. It offers the possibility of a just future for the country.
Cali, Colombia, is among the most unequal cities in the world. The story of its inequality is written in its architecture, replete with sprawling favelas, fortified luxury homes, and intimidating bunkers that belong to cartel bosses and police alike.
Next month, Cali, Colombia, will host the annual environmental conference COP16. The city’s right-wing mayor has called upon thousands of army and police officers in preparation, both of whom have a long history of suppressing environmental activists.
In an interview with Jacobin, Colombia’s former energy minister outlines left-wing president Gustavo Petro’s plan to make the rich nations that profit from its extractive economy help pay for its green transition.
Left-wing candidate Gustavo Petro faces a runoff against a far-right populist, Rodolfo Hernández, for Colombia’s presidency. Predictably, the traditional establishment is lining up to support his self-styled “antiestablishment” opponent.
For too long, multinational energy companies have extracted resources from Colombia’s Guajira Desert region without sharing any of the benefits with indigenous residents. A new green initiative spearheaded by President Gustavo Petro aims to change that.
Colombia’s Supreme Court has placed former right-wing president Álvaro Uribe under house arrest on charges of manipulating witness testimony. Whatever happens to Uribe next, this will be a watershed moment for Colombian politics.
With peace on the horizon, the Colombian left’s future seems hopeful, but daunting challenges confront it.
The Colombian government promised to invest in rural areas as part of the country's peace process. But the elite-friendly projects it's pushing are undermining the livelihoods of local residents — and threatening the peace process itself.
Colombia’s new leftist president, Gustavo Petro, took office Sunday. His government will face massive challenges in carrying out its promised progressive agenda — but success could help spark similar left insurgents throughout Latin America.
US intervention in Venezuela wouldn't just be a catastrophe for that country — it would be a disaster for neighboring Colombia too.
The benefits of peace between FARC and the Colombian government will not be widely felt.
Recently elected president Gustavo Petro's victory was a milestone not only for Colombia but for all of Latin America. With it, a new progressive wave has washed across the region.
The greatest threat to Colombia's peace deal doesn't come from the Left, but from right-wing paramilitaries.
Colombia's peace deal is being threatened by a surge of right-wing violence.