America's 50 Year War in Colombia: Death Squads & Drug Management

Media Roots Radio

Abby & Robbie Martin

News

4.6 • 827 Ratings

🗓️ 27 May 2015

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

US sponsored violence on the ground in Colombia has been constant for five decades, killing more than 220,000 people and displacing millions. Colombia is removed from most US foreign policy discussions, yet the American military has been more involved there than any other country in the world – including Afghanistan. From immunized war crimes to rampant rape, human rights lawyer Dan Kovalik talks about the disastrous effects of five decades of US militarism in the region and the crushing of resistance movements under the auspices of fighting the Drug War. Please donate to Media Roots Radio by typing in 'radio' into the comments field of your donation on www.mediaroots.org http://twitter.com/abbymartin http://twitter.com/danielmkovalik

Transcript

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0:00.0	I Wattice Hello, welcome to Media Roots Radio.
0:32.6	This is your co-host, Robbie Martin.
0:35.6	Tensions have exacerbated between the Colombian government and rebel group
0:39.6	FARC, or the revolutionary armed forces of Colombia, after the military killed 26 rebel fighters
0:46.7	in recent weeks. It was one of the deadliest offensives since peace negotiations between the two sides
0:53.2	began. As a result, FARC suspended its unilateral
0:57.2	ceasefire. The violence on the ground in Colombia has been constant for more than five decades,
1:03.9	killing more than 220,000 people and displacing millions more. Colombia is a nation removed from most U.S. foreign policy discussions.
1:14.0	But in fact, the U.S. military has been more involved in Colombia than even Afghanistan
1:18.0	still, committing regular war crimes and destabilizing resistance movements under the
1:23.3	auspices of fighting the drug war.
1:26.8	To explain the roots of the drug war and why Colombia is such a crucial linchpin to
1:31.6	U.S. foreign policy, media roots is joined by Dan Kovalik, human rights lawyer and journalist.
1:40.4	When people hear about Colombia, I think they think of the drug war.
1:44.1	They think it's one of the drug war.
1:48.6	They think it's one of the most violent countries in the world, a very dangerous place to be.
1:56.8	It still remains pretty foreign to a lot of Westerners, I think, especially, I mean, Americans of really the dynamics of the country. So let's go back really quickly to the Cold War and talk about the introduction of the U.S. sphere of influence in the country. So let's go back really quickly to the Cold War and talk about the introduction of the
2:02.9	U.S. sphere of influence in the country. Yes. Well, the U.S. has had an influence in Colombia
2:09.8	really for a long time. I mean, just to briefly state, I mean, many Colombian historians
2:16.0	trace the current war to the U.S. intervention in 1903,
2:21.0	which, as you recall, we supported rebel groups to break Panama from Columbia, so we could get
2:28.8	the Panama Canal. And many traced the routes back to then. But let's not go that far back in detail. I think the relevant
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