International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine

Colombia: in the eye of the storm

Jean Batou, Rodrigo Granda — 2026-07-03T12:01:58Z

“Almost no one in Colombia expected a victory for the candidate Abelardo de la Espriella in the first round, on May 31. He was able to capture the political zeitgeist within large sectors that were bitter enemies of the peace process and opposed the policy of change proposed by President Petro.”

- IVP618 - July 2026 / Colombia

“Surprise” election result poses new challenges for the left in Colombia

Ana C. Carvalhaes — 2026-06-03T09:47:54Z

The clashes over the next 20 days on the streets, in workplaces and on social media in Colombia will determine not only the name of the country's new president – between a neo-fascist and a progressive – but also, to a large extent, the balance of power in South America. The Colombian presidential elections, with a second round on 21 June, are a precursor to the Brazilian elections in November and are of central importance to the construction of Trump's “shield” on the continent.

- IVP617 - June 2026 / Colombia

Notes on the Political Situation in South America

Ana C. Carvalhaes, Israel Dutra — 2026-05-28T06:34:16Z

“In these notes, we address South America, where the complexity of societies, scandalous socioeconomic inequality, the presence of a so-called “middle” economy with its own influence in the region (Brazil), a tradition of struggle and organization on the left, and governments less subservient than the liberal right (such as those of Colombia, Brazil, and Uruguay), imperialist interventionism faces more obstacles and has to moderate its attacks. In light of important electoral processes and tests in the class struggle posed by far-right and right-wing governments, such as those in Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, and Ecuador, it is worth considering the commonalities across national contexts in the region in the coming months.”

- IVP616 - May 2026 / United States (USA), Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Cuba, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Bolivia

New popular resistance in Latin America

Claudio Katz — 2023-02-07T12:02:14Z

Latin America continues to be an area convulsed by popular rebellions and transformative political processes.

- IV577 - February 2023 / Brazil, Haiti, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Latin America, Ecuador, Honduras

Gustavo Petro tested in power in Colombia

Patrick Guillaudat — 2022-11-04T06:51:16Z

“Yet, very recently, the victories of Boric in Chile, Castillo in Peru and Petro in Colombia have shown that we are still in the same sequence... but with strong nuances. The anti-imperialist discourse of the first wave has largely faded and these three new presidents are much more inclined to expand their majority towards a part of the right.”

- IV574 - November 2022 / Colombia

Petro's Triumph and the limitations of “late progressivism”

Daniel Libreros C — 2022-08-05T08:26:59Z

“As soon as the electoral result was known, popular jubilation exploded. Thousands of people poured into the streets and squares of all cities to celebrate victory, while videos of people sharing that same euphoria for the "historic change" circulated in the most remote places in the country.”

- IV571 - August 2022 / Colombia

Can Colombia's Left Survive the Persistent Logics of Armed Conflict?

Ben Gilvar-Parke — 2022-01-26T08:54:03Z

“The Pacto Historico, as a political movement, hopes to tie messages of national unity to social spending and poverty reduction, in what Villanuevas describes as not just a rejection of militarism, “but a social pact with Colombia's citizens.””

- IV564 - January 2022 / Colombia

A Multitude in Precarious Conditions - On the Colombian Strikes

Leopoldo Múnera Ruiz — 2021-08-06T10:26:40Z

“Authoritarian rule threatens to truncate once again the invention of forms of life that go beyond mere survival. […] If the protests are forced under a single political and programmatic logic, all of this could result in a new collective frustration.”

- IV559 - August 2021 / Colombia

Region's dilemmas reflected on the streets of Colombia

Ana C. Carvalhaes, Israel Dutra — 2021-07-30T08:24:32Z

“The path will be neither linear nor easy, there will be ups and downs, defeats and victories. The big challenge is to be in the struggles, with this new combative generation fighter, to build with it (and not for it) our programme of rupture.”

- IV558 - July 2021 / Brazil, Colombia, Latin America, Ecuador, Bolivia

The popular uprising is bringing down the neoliberal and militarist regime

Movimiento Ecosocialista de Colombia — 2021-05-25T09:44:46Z

“Neoliberalism does not die without killing, but the more it kills, the more it dies. What is happening in Colombia is not a Colombian problem, it is our problem, that of the democrats of the world,” Boaventura Dos Santos.

- IV556 - May 2021 / Colombia