Welcome to the Empire Files podcast. This is Abby Martin.

This is the audio version of each episode of the Empire Files hosted on Telesaur English.

You can watch every episode at the Empirefiles.tv.

Dan Gavalloch is a human rights lawyer and professor, as well as an expert in U.S. foreign policy in Latin America,

most known for exposing U.S.-sponsored human rights abuses in Colombia.

He's also the author of the new book, The Plot to Escapegoat Russia.

Professor Kovalluk just returned from Venezuela as an observer of the country's recent election

for the Constituent Assembly.

I sat down with him to talk about his experience in Venezuela and Colombia and the reality

behind how they're both presented by the U.S. Empire.

So, Dan, you just got back from Venezuela.

You were there observing the constituent assembly election.

I feel like, you know, of course, Venezuela is one of the most crime-ridden countries in the

world outside of an active war zone, but you cannot look at Venezuela or the violence and the crime without understanding what's happening in Colombia and what the U.S. has done there.

Colombia remains the U.S. Empire's staunchest ally, of course, the largest aid recipient in the region, receiving at least $10 billion since 2000. It's been called the

Israel of Latin America. It's even been said from a former U.S. ambassador that the U.S.

has more involvement in Colombia than anywhere else in the world, including Afghanistan.

Right.

Now, people might be really shocked to hear that. You've called it an invisible war for a good

reason. Talk about the U.S. military

presence in the country today and what this alliance is all about. Right. So the U.S.

operates out of about seven military bases in Colombia. And they've been open about the fact that

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