Colombia's magic laptops and the war against social movements
- Opinión
Since last year, supposed documents from these magic laptops have appeared at politically convenient times for the regime to provide public accusations against social movement activists.
In August 2008, for example, I quickly responded to an accusation against my friend and mentor Hector Mondragon. I wrote the following:
The legality of Uribe's second term in office is itself in question, since there are accusations that bribery was involved in the vote in Congress when it passed the constitutional change to allow Uribe's re-election. The evidence that his party was heavily involved with the death squads is available in spades. He is isolated from his neighbours, in the region, and in the world - except for the
But against all this, Uribe has a weapon that has served him well: tremendous popularity in
Colombian regimes have always attacked social movements by claiming they are of the FARC. In Hector Mondragon, they attacked a pacifist and an economist with a history of work with indigenous movements. Manuel Rozental, like Hector, has a history of work with indigenous movements, and works with the indigenous movement in
The Tejido de Comunicaciones of the Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca (ACIN) has been recognized as the best alternative media in the country. Competing with virtually no resources with a centralized corporate media, it has become one of the most popular and credible voices in the Colombian landscape (Hollman Morris is another such voice). The role of the Tejido was particularly important during the recent Minga, a massive mobilization that lasted 61 days and arrived in
Using the exact same trick as before, the Colombian regime has leaked some supposed emails from the assassinated FARC commander, with the ultimate goal of accusing and threatening activists and journalists. Mondragon was supposedly being introduced to a FARC leader in
In October, "Sara" says to "Reyes" that "Aníbal" - the apparent leader of the front - is worried because the ELN is taking his territory and because some of his recruits are touring around with [Hollman] Morris and Manuel Rozenthal [sic], a friend of [Morris]. In these moments, the FARC and the ELN are waging a bloody battle for territorial control in Cauca and
Paley points out that the magazine, Cambio, that published this supposed email, is owned by the same group that owns El Tiempo, which published the earlier supposed email about Mondragon.
In
They followed the predictable pattern. They focused on Manuel. There was mud slung from diverse directions, and of many kinds. From friends and allies they consisted of trying to hold Manuel to standards to which they would not hold any human being, let alone themselves. From those less familiar with our work, the accusations got filthier, in concentric circles. At the outer circle were the filthiest accusations, made by those with the least knowledge. Manuel was a CIA agent (something there could be no proof for). Manuel denounced other activists in public (though no public record could be found). Manuel supported terrorism. Manuel used the indigenous cause to personally enrich himself. No one, of course, would stand behind such statements in public – if evidence was asked for, another "source" for them would be found. Ask that "source", and get sent off to the next source. But the whisper campaign worked...
When he left
The threats forced Manuel out of
As in the past, these attacks are not coincidental. The regime is militarily confident and attempting to take the offensive politically against social movements. A few weeks before the magic laptops found evidence against
Meanwhile Rozental had been working with the indigenous in
The agenda of peace, democratic transformation, and of "freedom for mother earth" that Morris, Rozental, the PDA, and the indigenous movement have been working for, is the real threat to the regime. In Rozental's case, the content of the accusations this time is completely different from the last round (last time he was supposedly CIA, this time he's touring with FARC), but the content is irrelevant. All that matters is the denunciation, preferably repeated, but offered without evidence (or provided wholesale from magic laptops), to try to break the movement apart by isolating activists from one another. It's the same vile tactic that failed on Manuel in the past, failed on Hector last summer, and will fail again.
- Justin Podur is a
Del mismo autor
- The police system that terrorizes the poor and minorities is rooted in the colonial past 23/10/2020
- Colombia's magic laptops and the war against social movements 06/03/2009
- Los más recientes prisioneros políticos 16/04/2008
- Basta de rumores devastadores 14/03/2006
- Stop the Deadly Rumours 23/02/2006
- In Caracas 12/08/2004
- La lucha por Colombia 14/03/2004
Clasificado en
Clasificado en:
![Subscribe to America Latina en Movimiento - RSS](https://www.alainet.org/misc/feed.png)