Colombia's Endless Conflict: When 'Rebel Clashes' Serve a Larger Purpose
📰 THE STORY: Al Jazeera reports that 27 people were killed in clashes between rival 'rebel groups' in Colombia's Guaviare region of the Amazon, battling for territorial control. The article offers little insight into the roots of this perpetual conflict. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context: The 'conflict' in Colombia is not spontaneous. Since the 1960s, the US has heavily funded
and trained Colombian military and paramilitary groups under the guise of the 'War on Drugs' and 'counter-insurgency.' Plan Colombia (starting in 2000) alone funneled over $10 billion in military aid, ostensibly to fight narcotics, but effectively prolonging and arming all sides of an internal conflict that serves to destabilize regions rich in resources. This created an environment where various
armed groups — some initially formed as peasant self-defense, others as drug cartels, and many infiltrated or created by state security forces— have perpetually fought, primarily in areas with valuable coca crops or mineral deposits. Double Standard: When similar internal conflicts erupt in regions deemed strategically important by Washington, such as Eastern Europe or parts of the Middle East,
Western media is quick to attribute blame to 'foreign interference' and champion 'freedom fighters.' Yet, in Latin America, particularly Colombia, the decades-long, heavily-funded US role in militarizing the country and exacerbating internal divisions is routinely sanitized, reduced to 'local rebel clashes' rather than the predictable outcome of geopolitical meddling. Were it not for the extensive