Peasantry in Colombia Confronts Criminalization and Goons

Featured image: Reclaimed land in La Marchenita. Source: Social Media

Last February, a group of peasants started a process to recover La Marchenita estate, in the municipality of Codazzi. Subsequently, the peasants were met with repression by the State, as well as by goons from the latifundium known as the ‘Rancher Solidarity Brigades’, created by Fedegán, the Colombian big landlords’ association. Nueva Democracia reports that the peasants were attacked and evicted, with seven of them being arrested.

These seven peasants have faced a wide campaign of criminalization, executed by media outlets in the service of the latifundium. The peasants have been portrayed as criminals, while in reality, they are seeking to reclaim their lands. Meanwhile, the real criminals are the goons of the latifundium, the “Brigades of Agricultural Solidarity”, who mobilize tens of men, mercenaries who are armed and arrive in pickup trucks, and attack and evict the peasants under police protection. These armed men are commanded by a retired police general, Fernando Murillo, who trains and promotes them to recruit new members.

Nueva Democracia reports that these goons are similar to the group “Convivir,” known for being the base of paramilitary armies in the service of the dominant classes, known as “Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia – AUC” (United Self-Defense in Colombia). In fact, Fedegán has a relationship with this organization, as its former president was linked to AUC, and the current one is mentioned by ex-members of the AUC.

The seven peasants arrested at La Marchenita are now free, and they maintain that the accusations against them are false. Additionally, there are other ongoing criminalization cases. Nueva Democracia concludes by stating that “peasant struggle and the fight for land is not a crime, but a sacred right of the rural population. Moreover, it is the only proven historically effective way to transform the structure of land ownership.”