Hands off Colombia and Venezuela!

Over the past 10 months, Donald Trump has used the enormous weight of the relationship between the United States and Colombia to increase pressure on Gustavo Petro's government. The most recent example has been his scandalous denunciation of the Colombian president as a “drug trafficking leader” and the imposition of 25 percent tariffs.

[Originally published in Spanish at colombiamarxista.com]

However, the motivation behind these measures is not simply economic. Petro has correctly denounced these as attacks of US imperialism that threaten the sovereignty of Latin American countries. Not only that, but over the last year, Petro has criticised deportations and the criminalisation of immigrants in the US, and denounced US complicity in the genocide in Gaza.

For her part, US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem has accused Petro of protecting the Venezuelan ‘Tren De Aragua’ gang. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also revoked the visas of Gustavo Petro and several of his officials after Petro's speech at the UN General Assembly and at a demonstration against the genocide.

In this context, it is clear that tariffs are a tool of pressure on the part of US imperialism. The reason behind this is clear: the White House considers it dangerous to have a reformist left-wing president in power who does not follow Washington's exact guidelines.

This is part of the general policy of the ruling class in the North, which demands complete submission from the countries of the South. Hence, the bombings of Venezuela and the tariffs on Brazil, countries that have moved closer to Russia and especially China, a direct rival of US imperialism in the contest for spheres of influence.

These measures against Colombia aim to mobilise the traditional oligarchy to harass the Petro government and turn the working class and peasantry against the reformists. The threat is implicit: “If you vote for Petro's party in 2026, we will make the Colombian economy suffer.”

As Colombian communists, we declare our complete opposition to Yankee imperialism. While we have political differences with Gustavo Petro, the question of who governs this country can only be decided by the Colombian working class and peasantry themselves.

We must also denounce the servile character of the national ruling class, which has prostrated itself before the White House, begging for the intervention of Trump and his henchmen in Colombian politics. The fact that they have to resort to their real bosses abroad is a reflection of their complete weakness and unpopularity at home. This weakness has reached the point where figures such as former Conservative Party Minister of Foreign Affairs Álvaro Leyva have gone to the United States to beg Republican senators to help “manage Petro's exit.”

Ultimately, it is clear that the national oligarchy is tied by a thousand threads to the repugnant ruling class of the north. This is why, in each of the confrontations between Petro and Trump, they have invariably taken the side of the enemy. It is worth remembering that in January they went to Washington to beg their masters to direct their struggle towards Petro and not towards Colombia.

This is the essence of the matter: the ruling classes of the United States and Colombia are colluding to restrict the breathing room of the country's first left-wing government, despite it being the government with the most votes in national history.

This puts the working class of our country on a direct collision course with imperialism. The struggle for reforms is a struggle against the Colombian ruling class, which has behind it the reserves and support of the largest army on the planet.

However, the reality is that the national oligarchy does not have favourable conditions to be able to take back control of the situation as it would like. The struggle for Petro’s labour reform proves this, as the masses of the working class and peasantry only had to move their little finger to scare the oligarchy into conceding.

On that front, the response of the working class and Petro’s ‘Historic Pact’ coalition must be forceful: it is necessary to expropriate the 500 US companies operating in our territory and place them under workers' control. If the Americans want to abandon their factories to export unemployment, as workers it is our duty to occupy them.

The only class that can defend national sovereignty is the Colombian working class. But this is not done in the name of narrow nationalism, but in the name of defending the working class and peasantry of Latin America, who are under siege by the colossus of the north. This struggle, however, can not only be fought on the Colombian front.

The impact of a victorious mobilisation of our class would resonate throughout the world, but especially among the American working class. It would see clearly that its ruling class is no longer the enormous titan it was, and can’t dominate the world as easily as before. It would begin the process of the downfall of the most reactionary force on the planet.

Hands off Colombia and Venezuela!

Out with US imperialism and the Colombian oligarchy!

They shall not return!