On this 57th anniversary of the FARC, “there is a feast in the sky because it is thundering,” and here in Colombia for 30 days the drums of struggle have not stopped thundering, summoning consciences, awakening the continent. We are witnessing the rebirth of hope.
Colombia no longer wants a government that thinks that only the rich have rights, and that doesn’t care about the fate of the poor. What we are experiencing is a real class struggle. And the immense crowds of the despised and excluded begin to understand that the struggle has to be for a new social order that guarantees the right to peace and the right to a dignified life. Let no one loosen up. We have nothing to lose but the chains that oppress us. The turning point is now. Charge!, as in Gaitán’s cry, fused with the hoarse voice of the people.
The people who can, are in the streets demanding their rights, while the government sinks more and more in the swamp of its disrepute. Eighty-two percent of the country rejects Duque and Uribe, the ringleaders of tyranny. Objectively, the mobilized people can topple the worst government in the history of Colombia and make its head roll on the ground. For this it has the overwhelming force of the rebellious youth, the example of persistent struggle and solidarity of the Indigenous minga, the anger and great indignation of the lower strata already tired of hunger and exclusion, and also the leadership of leaders of the social and political movement with great dignity and willing to risk everything for Colombia and its people.
Let us demand Duque’s resignation from the presidency, because physically the country could not endure another year of bad government and ineptitude. New elections must be called urgently. Duque must understand that his mandate has already been revoked by the people in the streets, by the marches and by the cacerolazos [banging pots and pans] of national repudiation. Let him go so that he does not interfere with the country’s flight towards a new horizon of humanity.
This began with the abuse of the tax reform, and today Colombia resembles Manuela Beltrán tearing out the papers in El Socorro that announced new colonial taxes. That was the spark that activated the historic insurrection of the comuneros, led by the popular hero, José Antonio Galán.
The government is using the dialogue as a ploy of deception so that nothing changes, and thus it is useless. The dialogue is stalled by the delaying tactics of Duque’s spokesmen, who hope that the people will tire and retreat, while unleashing the media artillery aimed at demoralizing and destabilizing the protests. How wrong they are. Do not come and divide us between the peaceful and the vandals, because there are no worse vandals than those of the government. And if the poor protest violently, it is because of the despair caused by injustice. The problem will not be fixed with Machiavellian negotiation stratagems that seek to negotiate without yielding or yield without complying. Let the deception end. Dialogue must begin with the state’s compliance with its constitutional obligation to guarantee citizens’ right to protest, without repression from the public force, and in this case, with international oversight.
We will have to think about the great national march of the excluded, of the mistreated, of the great march of Colombians for the establishment of a new government that listens to their anguish and devises effective policies to address the demands of the poor. The people converted into a thunderous flood, to be effective, must march with a single flag that unifies the dreams of all for a better future. May the objective be the seizure of power, beginning with the installation of a new government of the people and for the people.
How wonderful it is to celebrate the 57th anniversary of the FARC under the thunder of the social outburst that seeks a political solution to the crisis with the establishment of a new democratic coalition government that will lead us to the shores of the future, of the happiness of the people. And how good it is to remember in these circumstances our founding fathers Manuel Marulanda Vélez and Jacobo Arenas, and also to remember all the guerrillas who fell in combat, from Isaías Pardo in 1964 to Jesús Santrich in 2021. They are still alive in the struggle of the people. Health to Colombia.
Unity and Resistance, Venceremos.
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP), Second Marquetalia
May 27, 2021
Source: http://farc-ep.net/?p=3451
Translated by Greg Butterfield
Red Star News + Translations 