Colombia (AIL): Antiimperialist Mobilization of Independence

Antiimperialist Mobilization of Independence

Nueva Democracia reports that thousands of people took to the streets to commemorate the victory in the war of independence against Spanish rule, and raised on this occasion high the banners of antiimperialism and national sovereignty from imperialism, mainly Yankee imperialism.

On the 20^th of July, in Medellín, as well as throughout Colombia, the 216 anniversary of the Grito de Independencia (Cry of Independence) was commemorated. Through war waged by peasants, indigenous people, black people, artisans, patriotic intellectuals and other popular sectors, victory was achieved against the Spanish crown and its colonial rule in Colombia. Nueva Democracia writes that due to limitations of the social classes leading the war of independence, Colombia came to be dominated by England, a capitalist power that had supported the independence cause, due to its interest in expanding its sphere of influence in the region. So, while Colombia formally became an independent nation, it was gradually subjugated by England, becoming a semi-colony. As the US emerged as a global imperialist power, Colombia gradually went from an English semi-colony, to a Yankee imperialist one, and these conditions still remain today.

It is in this context that thousands of people have taken to the streets throughout Colombia. One of these mobilizations was carried out in the city of Medellín. Nueva Democracia reports that, despite heavy influence of Gustavo Petro’s movement in the Medellín march – with banners calling for “civil disobedience” against the new government of de la Espriella – the march also “revealed the deep class hatred of the Colombian popular movement against the extreme right and the new government of Abelardo de la Espriella, who won the presidential elections championing security policies, the ‘fight against crime,’ and a ‘tough on crime’ approach, promising to establish a government like Bukele’s in El Salvador, and in economic matters promising to implement a ‘chainsaw’ policy like Milei’s in Argentina.”.

Flags of the International Antiimperialist League (AIL), as well as flags of the Student Movement in the Service of the People (MESP) could be seen during the demonstration. A banner reading “To the Yankee all resistance no obedience” was also carried during the demonstration.