Feeling-thinking with seeds of resistance

A sketch in water territories¹

Elba Mercedes Palacios Córdoba

This article was written in Spanish. Read the original article here.

In an attempt to understand what is happening to us—amidst the fiction that “anything goes” and the “every man for himself” mentality—this article seeks to explore the meaning and possibilities of governance among the peoples who have coexisted—and survived—in Afro-Abya Yala, in South America: a continent (The Americas, in the plural) defined by historic collective struggles and the ensuing conflicts over territory and sovereignty.

Following the era of official subjugation of people from Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities, the social majorities have been called upon to embrace the promise of freedom on equal terms. Against this backdrop of the consolidation of an idealised liberal democracy, in which the media are controlled by the power of the ‘deep state’, we find ourselves on the brink of the collapse of communities rich in biodiversity. Faced with ubiquitous disinformation and hate speech – their ceaseless flow of misinformation and the resulting injustices— we realise the obvious: we find ourselves swept along by the system’s momentum, and the political sphere is not confined to election campaigns. 

I focus on the case of Colombia, more than two centuries after the proclamation of a citizenship defined by free-market principles. We recall (among kindred spirits²) just how important the youth vanguard and the feminist movements in the region are, as they have been in the past; historically, through their strength, they have paved the way for acts of disobedience, processes of reparation, and possibilities for life within contested territories.

Introduction and Context

You can’t buy the wind, you can’t buy the sun, you can’t buy the rain (…) Operation Condor invading my nest (…) Here we are.. (Latin America, Calle 13)

Latin America and the Caribbean — also known as the Afro-Abya Yala region — are characterised by a vast and diverse mix of indigenous peoples (and their native languages); alongside its European roots, the region is home to Black, Afro-descendant, Raizal and Palenquera populations. The cultures that define this area have flourished amidst immense biodiversity; it is precisely here—home to the Amazon (the ‘lungs of the world’), as well as oceans, high-altitude páramos and rivers—that 21 per cent of the planet’s surface freshwater still exists, alongside an extraordinary and formidable variety of flora and fauna (ECLAC, 2024). However, a paradox persists: the subjugation of territories belonging to historically rebellious communities has, in turn, led to the criminalisation of a predominantly young population, divided by gender and racialised.

Understanding the ways in which we are oppressed forms the basis for re-existencias (acts of re-existence). Public institutional frameworks (governments, political parties) are merely one aspect of the web that perpetuates the inequalities and injustices driving a movement toward re-existence. For this reason, diverse communities examine their history to dismantle the maneuvers of the established powers that oppress them—powers that often resort to convoluted rational arguments (Palacios Córdoba, 2023, p. 245).³

Amidst enormous systemic inequalities and a neoliberal economic model, the extraction of resources from the land continues unabated. The extraction of oil and minerals — such as gold — pollutes the water and poisons living organisms; we are witnessing the resulting climate crisis, which is wreaking havoc across the region and precipitating planetary collapse. We face the danger that the designation of an ‘internal enemy’ will become the norm (anyone who—even slightly—appears to oppose the ideas propagated by the regime, or anyone whose body—due to its shape or colour—does not fit the dominant narrative). We face utter defencelessness, at the mercy of the man in charge – a white man, representative of the global North, who wields military power. Thus, without the legal constraints of multilateral human rights bodies, he could, spear in hand and at his sole discretion, carry out bombings both on land and at sea.

Fundamentalist order and the politics of death: a reason frozen and disconnected from the heart

Regarding the state of democracy in South America, currently, in almost every country; we, who are part of the popular sectors (such as the munac: black afro-descendant women in Cali), we are resisting the imposition of an authoritarian model, with incumbent governments linked to a politics of death. Those who proclaim themselves patriots—yet act as agents of forces for whom democratic norms are inconvenient—Under a patriarchal model that disregards republican laws—even while invoking them—they seek to impose their interests of accumulation and greed upon societies characterized by strong collectivization and a deep-rooted oral tradition.⁴

Two hundred and fifty years after the United States Declaration of Independence—amidst modern information systems, media monopolies and capital flows driven by foreign interference in the Americas (in the plurality of the continent and the region), the concentration of power combined with the manipulation of public consciousness (media blockades), the instrumentalization of churches alongside the growing use of evangelicalism as a political tool, the alteration of algorithms, and the rise of artificial intelligence, in addition to the concentration of power unstoppable processes of decolonization are nonetheless brewing and emerging right here.⁵

The progressive popular advance—which succeeded in electing President Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego and Vice President Francia Elena Márquez Mina in Colombia—coincides with the decisión, following a social uprising, to opt for a government like that of Gabriel Boric in Chile. The newly elected administration of Kast Rist has nonetheless assumed power in that region of southwestern South America; his government aligns itself with the pursuit of resources and security interests serving U.S. imperialism. Two other countries further inland in Central America — Honduras and El Salvador — follow a similar pattern (Latin America is generally considered to extend northwards as far as Mexico, a country that shares a long border with the United States). There, in the country known as the ‘Tom Thumb of the Americas’, President Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s ‘king of mega-prisons’, has instituted a state policy, or a set of state measures, which, with the support of public opinion, may be leading, in the name of security, to the systematic commission of crimes against humanity, particularly against young people and journalists.⁶

Thus, against a backdrop of total democratic paralysis, the separation of powers is undermined; believing that they have been called upon to govern as the people, citizens accept reforms that erode democracy in exchange for the illusion of security; without condemning policies that exacerbate inequalities, they approve measures that perpetuate a permanent state of structural emergency; thereby institutionalising barbarism: the normalisation of violations of the right to life; all manner of crimes become commonplace..⁷

Amidst this globalized public dispute, autocrats and the techno-oligarchs funding political intervention have made their presence felt; a transnational political operative in the ideological battle—this time unmasked for orchestrating a femicide—has once again unscrupulously deployed fake news on social media. This infamous media specialist, known for employing the same modus operandi in electoral contests across the Global South, has set his sights on Bolivia, playing a role in the lead-up to the election of the current government led by President Rodrigo Paz, representative of the Trump supporters over there.⁸

Various analysts point out that the media landscape constitutes the primary political arena. From this perspective, audio recordings have come to light revealing intervention by the United States government—actions involving violations of sovereignty and threats to exert economic and military control. These recordings reveal a plan to use Honduras as an operational hub from which to project a pernicious influence aimed at undermining governments that have not yet bowed to the will of the United States—specifically, until now, those of Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil. The pardon and release of Orlando Hernández—who had served two presidential terms in Honduras before being convicted of drug trafficking—cemented an internal interventionist alliance; the former prisoner’s return to the country secured the presidency for a political ally, resulting in the proclamation of Nasry Asfura as president. 

As was the case throughout the continent, the United States engaged in prolonged political interference in Nicaragua—a fact confirmed by the revelation of funds allocated at the time to anti-Sandinista forces (opposed to the Sandinista National Liberation Front, or FSLN). Within this hemispheric context, the Peruvian woman Keiko Fujimori—heir to the regime of a father convicted of massacres committed during the offensive to crush the Shining Path (PCP-SL) revolutionary movement and of repression against the Peruvian people—assumes the presidency in 2026, following the imprisonment of Pedro Castillo Terrones, the “people’s president” (who had risen from the grassroots).⁹

This trajectory takes us through the Ecuadorian highlands to President Daniel Noboa, who—like other members of conservative, business-linked families in the Spanish-speaking world—maintains the country’s dollarized economy, besides, ceding geostrategic control and placing his nation at the service of the reactionary international. Taken together, we see South American nations led by ambitious, subordinate to the imperialist government (and its Monroe Doctrine), aligning themselves with the MAGA movement and the Zionism led by that other autocrat with the surname Netanyahu: a man who could be arrested for genocide by order of the International Criminal Court. This swaggering figure has recently and openly declared that his explicit goal is to “attack the cancer of the Left in the region.”

At the same time, at par, the “Shield of the Americas” serves as a perfect pretext to legitimize intervention in the region; by convening presidents of like-minded—or subordinate—nations, agendas of domination are legitimized through the rhetoric and symbols of imperial hegemony. Just as the United States occupied Panama for nine years, it now seeks to secure control over energy and mineral resources by establishing operational military bases, thereby effectively resurrecting “Plan Patriot 2.0” on Colombian soil. Authoritarian governments are imposing a ‘miracle cure’ on the region, where a state of emergency is becoming the norm. Under this system of government, constitutional guarantees and rights are suspended, whilst those who question the regime are condemned; dissenting voices and their critical analyses of the punitive model are regarded as part of an international left-wing alliance. In short, this ‘miracle cure’ extends to communications (bot farms and the manipulation of algorithms, which dictate what is said and what is thought). Whilst images of heavily armed men are constantly displayed, death threats are issued (all wrapped up in praise of a punishing god); the arming of civilians is approved and plans for mega-prisons are drawn up. Geostrategic control in Latin America, far removed from social justice, leads to the adoption of measures that allow for the concentration of this extreme form of state power. Through similar symbolic actions—and paradoxically, while claiming to defend freedom and styling themselves as libertarians—they justify, in their grandiloquent public speeches, the violation of many people’s rights in the name of security and the restriction of freedom of expresión. Amidst warmongering narratives driven by greed and the normalization of predatory behavior, interference persists in South American nations—the “backyard” of U.S. imperialism. With authoritarianism as a backdrop—a scenario in which “the orangutan sheds its frock coat”—”tigers” and “lions” (referring to the elected and self-proclaimed presidents of Colombia and Argentina, among others, molded by imperial hegemony) turn against their own peoples; furthermore, brandishing a hollow banner, they appropriate patriotic symbols and proclaim themselves “kings of the jungle,” “the tiger,” and “the lion” (animals with characteristics vastly different from those of cockroaches¹⁰), respectively, the case of the man just proclaimed president elect of Colombia, surnamed De la Espriella (“firm for the homeland”  or “for the money”), who, lacking a program to address social needs, emulates and seeks to be a carbon copy of the leader behind economic cutbacks, the lackey President Javier Milei of Argentina, who is handing over Patagonia(La Base América Lat., (2026 July 16) to Yankee-Zionist imperialism.¹¹

The shocking terrorism narrative propagated by the empire—which seeks to legitimize political interventions in South American nations and across the globe, such as the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the explosive attack on his security detail on January 3, 2026—employs a rhetoric that ostensibly supports democratic transitions in target countries. Consequently, even as prospects for governability in the southern part of the continent are increasingly undermined, communities immersed in decolonization processes are carrying out acts of “re-existence” as a direct response to attempts to subjugate them. During an earlier period, characterized by rhetoric centered on self-determination and sovereignty in Venezuela, UNASUR (Union of South American Nations) was strengthened. That era also saw the creation of CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States), a bloc comprising around thirty countries, excepting Canada and the United States.

Today, communities inhabiting the vast Afro-Abya Yala region are spearheading alternative economic initiatives; these involve nations such as Brazil and alliances like BRICS (which includes South Africa; and, today, two decades into its advance with a stride of sovereignty, there stands Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, India, China and the United Arab Emirates. The recent summit in New Delhi draws attention to Latin America as a zone of non-intervention and peace), all while navigating the era of climate change and confronting the Global North. They are strengthening their position in the face of measures such as arbitrary tariff hikes and interventions in international waters, while forging alliances to counter narratives designed to mislead governments like that of Mexico; of the Global Souths in the global context supports President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, as she continues to welcome home with open arms her compatriots deported from the United States.

In any case, ancestral forms of resistance endure. We place our trust in the challenges our leaders pose to the representatives of strategic profit-driven schemes. With our sights set on 2026—amidst the resurgence of organized crime and the persistence of colonialism—we recall the mobilization of the youth majority that propelled Gustavo Petro Urrego to the presidency and legitimized his mandate; he embodies the figure of the mythical jaguar, representing the only progressive, left-wing administration in Colombia’s republican history.

Colombia: rainbows, rainforests, and flying rivers: An ornithological paradise; a reality of social strata; and a political class that inherited power from the landowning oligarchy.

In present day Colombian society, established rights are under threat: labor rights, the right to universal public education, the right to protest and public demonstration, and the right to land ownership for food cultivation, among others. Within working-class sectors —and amidst a struggle arising against the normalized status quo— people are retelling that old fable about voting for the insecticide: not only did the cockroaches die; but the ants, centipedes, and earthworms perished as well (…), along with the canaries and hummingbirds, the doves and the butterflies.¹²

Throughout our republican history—amidst efforts to unmask the establishment’s lethal lair and the abuses of a security force schooled in criminality and the “internal enemy” doctrine, yet commanded by those defending interests aligned with doctrines imposed by criminal clans wielding power at both national and international levels—and given the hegemony of a legal framework rooted in the abstract construct of the nation-state, we have witnessed how political marketing (leveraging an uninformed public, networks of fake accounts, a politicized National Electoral Council, major media outlets serving capitalist interests, and artificial intelligence) has left a segment of the population—cornered by a lack of awareness regarding their own rights—in a state of mere survival; all while guarantees remain absent for the various actors participating in the democratic political process. We have witnessed those who express their opinions—representing a majority of the citizenry—who do not feel represented. by the questionable processes overseen by the National Civil Registry. We are acutely aware of our vulnerability in the face of institutions that have been co-opted—such as the Council of State, the National Electoral Council, and the courts of law—bodies that were created, naturally, to protect civil society.

After pausing to take stock, It is fair to say that we were making progress, moving toward respect, the defense of life, dignity, and justice. And finding hope in the capacity to protect the Amazonian territory (the planet’s lungs), to achieve legal the implementation of recognition of rivers as subjects of rights, and to safeguard mountains, mangroves, and high-altitude moorlands; and after prioritizing early childhood care—guaranteeing adequate nutrition for emotional, physical, and spiritual development, as well as prioritizing music education in primary schooling —we maintain our commitment to defending the continued operation of a hospital ship designed to provide preventive medical care along the Colombian Pacific coast, among other measures of the “Government of Change.” Likewise, while we defend the possibility that there may be youth population with the full right to free higher education and the freedom to develop their individual potential—backed by a commitment to foster their cultural and artistic activities and ensure the full exercise of citizenship—and as we simultaneously fight for decent work, universal sanitation, and pensions for the elderly, as well as for the implementation of the program that was left unfinished “Total Peace” program, we reiterate that this plan for peaceful coexistence is fundamental. Indeed, it is the government’s most controversial initiative; however, in compliance with the National Constitution—specifically Article 22, which enshrines peace as a right, and the constitutional obligation to honor the 2016 Final Peace Agreement and its complementary regulations, this initiative has charted a path toward the gradual dismantling of the structural causes of the armed conflict in the territories. In essence, this peace program entails—as conceived by the From the former president Petro- administration linking basic sanitation for many Colombian households with the implementation of diverse, legal, and alternative economic initiatives.

Today, we face the heirs to the farce of representation—a mafia—multibillionaire monopolists capable of seizing the presidential palace (the physical and administrative seat of the country’s government). On July 6, 2026, faced with irrefutable evidence of electoral fraud, the outgoing president, Gustavo Petro, addressed the people, the nation, and the world: “(…) We are facing not only the imminence of fascism in Colombia but perhaps the greatest attack on global democracy since the era of Hitler.”¹³

Amidst the spectacle — the smoke — and the fires set in peasant reserve areas, in protected areas designated for food production, and on land where applications for mining licences have been submitted, we warn of the inherent danger in justifying widespread injustices; specifically the violation of the right to life on the part of those who, in their public roles, decide on policies that impact the citizenry. We face the risk of fracking operations and conflicts stemming from the prioritization of unbridled profit—through the extraction of oil, gold, and gas, as well as the exploration of rare earth, coltan, and hydrogen deposits—all while poisoning living organisms (by bypassing environmental permits, restricting prior consultations, and seizing control of frontier territories such as Putumayo, Catatumbo, and Urabá). Beyond the threat of individual and collective impoverishment and the risk of further harm, we fear the danger of forced displacement and gender-based violence—evocative of the height of paramilitarism—as well as the resulting breakdown of community ties. Ultimately, when observing our current reality—thirty-five years after the adoption of the Political Constitution and within the framework of the Colombian Social State of Law—we see that a rhetoric of hatred directed against any form of dissent, whether in rural or urban areas, threatens to set the country back.¹⁴

In a landscape defined by dispossession and the solvency of an authoritarian narrative, discourses validating the dismantling of democracy are gaining ground. While we perceive a certain automatic quality in the use of the word “democracy,” we are simultaneously witnessing an excessive proliferation of terms associated with it.

Re-existences: total interdependence rooted in mobilizations for the care of life and the guarantee of rights

We continue to define ourselves as humanity, as a region, and as societies of the Global South. We live in a state of mutual interdependence, for we are part of nature itself. Finally, as we look toward the challenges that await us—and toward the ongoing processes and trajectories of colonization—we must ask ourselves: Where does the sense of humanity—demolished in order to massacre the “other”—stand? What of the rallying cry that “only the people save the people”? And what of social justice—how can we move forward today, in this era of climate change?

This web of struggles also leads to recognizing their complementarity with struggles waged in other territories—at both national and international scales—and to identifying strikingly similar situations in societies described as “postcolonial” yet still bearing the weight of colonial legacies (Palacios Córdoba, 2023, p. 246).

We do not align ourselves with the politics of death; we reject judgments expressed in terms that dehumanize those holding opposing views in a debate that ought to be democratic. Many of those blinded by faith (particularly conservative evangelicalism) divide the world into good and bad; thereby devaluing the living conditions of vast, impoverished social sectors.

Yet, guided by our ancestors, we continue to explore ways to care for all forms of life and share the aspiration of giving real substance to democratic principles. In these times—faced with the resurgence of far-right movements that trample on all rights—live in a state of continuous struggle and “legendary resistance” (much like that attributed to cockroaches. (see footnote 15)). As in other regions of the world, young people have set an example of organized and forceful protest, as well as significant civic mobilization, striving to strengthen a process of self-management by, with, and for the people, in defense of water and life. ¹⁵

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Elba Mercedes Palacios Córdoba has been a comadre, great-aunt, activist, academic, and utopian thinker. In confronting a colonial model that normalizes practices and discourses of inequity, she has brought to light memories linked to water; through acts of re-existence—and from the privileged space of the theater—she makes visible the lived experiences of other *munac* (Black/Afro-descendant women from Cali).

Bibliographic and Web References

Afinogenova, I. (2026, julio 6). Catastrophe as an excuse to intervene in a country: Venezuela in the mirror of Haiti [Video] YouTube. https://youtu.be/JO6f9KnMhsU

Calle 13. Latinoamérica (2011, September 27). [Music video] YouTube. https://youtu.be/DkFJE8ZdeG8

Canal Red. LaBase América Latina. El Salvador and the Latin American Laboratory: Bukele’s Crimes Against Humanity (March 23, 2026). [Video] YouTube. https://youtu.be/Y8VJicFagSg

Canal Red. LaBase América Latina. Patagonia for Sale (July 16, 2026). [Video] YouTube. https://youtu.be/uRDfzRhASsU

ECLAC (2024). Overview of Natural Resources in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2023. https://www.cepal.org/es/publicaciones/69138-panorama-recursos-naturales-america-latina-caribe-2023

ChocQuibTown: “De donde vengo yo” (theme song. 2009). [Video] YouTube. https://youtu.be/yMS4J6Gp6e4

Escobar Velásquez, A. (2014). Feeling-Thinking with the Earth: New Readings on Development, Territory, and Difference. UNAULA. Medellín, Colombia.

Gamarnik, C. (2024). From a time when everything was yet to be created to a democracy at risk. In Militant Youth since the Return to Democracy: Political Participation, Everyday Life and Culture. Vásquez, Vommaro, Roca R. (eds.). IIGG and CLACSO. Buenos Aires.

Kothari, Ashish. (2026, 13 de June). Meer. Economy and Politics: Youth Revolts and the Politics of Possibility: From Anger and Resistance to Imagining Alternative Futures. https://www.meer.com/en/109007-youth-revolts-and-the-politics-of-possibility

La voz de los que sobran. Bukele: The Emperor Has No Clothes. Oscar Martínez explains how a dictatorship is built (June 30, 2026). [Video] YouTube.

Ngozi A, Ch. (2000) Americanah. Trad. de Carlos M. Soler. Versión pdf. Literatura Radmon House.

Palacios Córdoba, E. M., Campo, M., Rivas Orobio, M. L., Ocoró Grajales, N. A., & Lozano Lerma, B. R. (Eds.). (2019). Femicide and Global Accumulation. Proceedings of the International Forum, Cali, 2016. Decolonial Thought Series. Abya Yala.  Femicide and Global Accumulation – Abya Yala Publishing.

Palacios Córdoba, E. M. (2023). *Sentipensar* Peace in Colombia: Paths and Peaceful Voices of Black Afro-descendant Women in Santiago de Cali—Lived Experiences of *Cimarronaje*. [Doctoral thesis. University of Granada. UGR]. Andalucía, España.  URI: https://hdl.handle.net/10481/85671

Petro Urrego, G.F. (December 22, 2016). And that is how thousands of young people were killed. The misnamed “false positives.” YouTube. https://youtu.be/HpCq5dsl6K0

Revista Raya (August 16, 2026).  “I think the U.S. wants its soldiers kicking down doors and shooting in Colombia,” Adam Isaacson, Office for Latin American Affairs in Washington, WOLA. [Video] YouTube.  https://youtu.be/84rbb5-R4-M

Segato, R. Palestine: A Watershed Experiment in History (February 5, 2025). [Lecture by Rita Segato (University of Brasília)]. 1st Conference: The University Facing Genocide. University of Barcelona. 28 y 29 de 2024. [Video] YouTube.  https://youtu.be/fMPGB4wsv9g

Zapata Olivella, M. (1989). The Witch Tree of Liberty. Desde Abajo Publishing. Colombia.

Footnotes

1. The comings and goings, to and from Abya Yala invite us to feel-think. In this space of Afro-diasporic experience (“Where I come from”), we evoke lesser-known terms such as the African muntu, the philosophy of Ubuntu, and the concepts of “good living” and territory. We draw on the epistemic dimension of Pachamama, present among the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, and on the critical perspective of the “invention of development” (in reference to the “Third World”), among others, to foster a way of thinking rooted in Ladino Améfrica: Abya Yala/Afro/Latin America (a term used by Arturo Escobar Velásquez to refer to these alternative ontologies). By implementing a political ontology, Feeling-thinking with the land, Escobar
   Velásquez (2014) highlights the importance and contemporary relevance of alternative conceptualizations, worldviews, and ontologies that reflect what is recreated and endures within the diaspora. (Part of this initial foot note is taken from an earlier text by Palacios Córdoba, 2023: *Feeling and Thinking about Peace in Colombia: Peaceful Paths and Voices of Black Afro-descendant Women. Experiences of (In) Cimarronaje). ↩︎
2. I would like to define the term ‘comadres’, which, it seems, has no direct translation into English. In our region, it refers to those who share the experience of motherhood: from mother to mother, one might say. We are comadres – amongst ourselves, the women who share the ups and downs of bringing up children and young people. ↩︎
3. Palacios Córdoba, E.M. (2023a). “Re-existences.” In *Ethnic and Social Issues from the Perspective of Latin American Thought: Themes, Concepts, Approaches. Devés, E.; Kozel, A.; Rawkz D. (Eds.). Adriadna Ediciones. Pp.243-248 https://doi.org/10.26448/ae9789566095897.70
   
   ↩︎
4. Us… and them. 
   By “us,” I refer to those of us who recognize that, historically, we have been dehumanized in the pursuit of greed-driven objectives. Many of us hail from river-dwelling families; we are, for the most part, people from vulnerable communities—yet we champion a political project that opposes far-right ideas and their representatives in the country. We are defenders of the rivers, the mountains, and Pachamama; of life itself (See footnote 12).
   However, while I feel represented, in deliberating here, I do not represent those diverse groups.
   We are, precisely, single mothers who are heads of households, older adults, young people, and individuals from impoverished and racialized communities in Colombian cities; we are rural workers, students, and members of the LGBTQI+ community; we are fellow inhabitants of the same landscapes and belong to diverse collectives and the grassroots movement—to the city’s neighborhoods and districts; we are part of the “progressive project”: the more than thirteen million Colombian voters who, in June 2026, backed the political platform of a “government for life” proposed by the Historic Pact.
   Against the geopolitical backdrop of a year defined by both elections and a presidential inauguration, we reflect on our geographical proximity and deep ties to—among other things—the Fujimorista political apparatus (centered on the man who held both Japanese and Peruvian citizenship; that infamous figure—ultimately convicted by Peru’s justice system—who also walked among the dead). We also recognize the threads binding us, as peoples, to our neighbors (with Mexico and Brazil currently facing the rise of the far right, alongside the massive funding of their digital networks and ecosystems). We have made it clear, both in the streets and at the ballot box, that we seek justice and value a life defined by equity and peace. ↩︎
5.  During the era of the early struggles for independence, Haiti stood as an example of emancipation from European colonialism. In an act of defiance, its liberating army declared its autonomy from France. Faced with the prospect of the sovereign existence of the political entity known as Gran Colombia—and the consequent possibility of the total liberation of enslaved populations, both within and beyond the borders of the newly established Republic of Haiti—the army of the liberated island made its military aid to Simón Bolívar (the first president of Colombia) conditional. Today, Haiti is not the only nation suffering an economic blockade; Cuba and Venezuela face the same fate.
   Haiti. The legacy of French and U.S. exploitation… (2023 October 5). 
   High impact. https://youtu.be/RX-9ZToh7Tw
   Catastrophe as an excuse to intervene in a country: Venezuela in the mirror of Haiti / Inna Afinogenova.
   (2026, julio 6). https://youtu.be/JO6f9KnMhsU
   
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6.  Report on the state of emergency and human rights in El Salvador (28 June 2024). Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
   The report, drawn up by an international group of experts and supported by organisations such as the Organisation for Due Process, the International Federation for Human Rights and the International Commission of Jurists, details a set of policies that have led to massive and systematic human rights violations (a consistent, planned and sustained pattern of state action that could constitute crimes against humanity).
   Thus, in response to an expert report detailing the unlawful detention of individuals with no criminal record, whose rights have been violated, and of many innocent people detained simply because they ‘looked suspicious’, for example, the Government has presented itself to national and international public opinion with a communication strategy that distorts the facts and singles out those it accuses of propagating a certain form of populism (delegitimising those conducting the investigations by labelling them ‘lawyers for criminals’), referring disparagingly to their documented research and claiming that, from Amnesty International’s perspective, the aim is to secure the release of all criminals.
   
   ↩︎
7. To paraphrase those who produce critical content about the realities in South America and the threat posed by the ‘Global North’ with its deadly policies, through a model of reactionary international imposition
   – the country’s interests are being sold out to the United States.
   Watch: Canal Red. La Base Latinoamérica. “El Salvador and the Latin American laboratory: Bukele’s crimes against humanity” (2026. 23 March). [Video] YouTube. https://youtu.be/Y8VJicFagSg
   
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8. The alleged perpetrator of the femicide is known as Cerimedo, according to the testimony of his then-couple -in Bolivian territory-, who was pregnant at the time of the attempted murder. He ordered the killing of the person who is now revealing what they knew about this political operative’s work and his involvement in the entire web of fraud and the collapse of democracy.. ↩︎
9. Against the geopolitical backdrop of 2026, we reflect on the geographical proximity and deep-rooted links to Fujimori-style politics, as well as the enduring bonds that unite us as peoples with our neighbouring countries. With regard to Colombia’s newly elected president (whose US nationality is well known), we analyse the parallels with the Fujimori-style political system, which has persisted from the 1990s to the present day and has led to the election of Keiko Fujimori. Peru’s president-elect is known for her father, Alberto Fujimori, the infamous dictator convicted of crimes against humanity, despite having fled to Japan, where he was a naturalised citizen at the time. ↩︎
10. It is well known that the cockroach is a repulsive creature—inspiring horror in almost every culture and appearing wherever infestations thrive; so, unlike the lion or the tiger, the word referring to it is more commonly heard in the plural.. ↩︎
11. Although the proliferation of horse meat consumed by the most impoverished populations was already being discussed under governments prior to Petro’s, in 2026 many people in Colombia are surprised—and horrified—that so many in Argentina are eating donkey meat. ↩︎
12. From my current vantage point, I am working on a broader reflection—the fruit of over a decade of research that culminated in a book—centered on “feeling-thinking” peace in Colombia. In this process, I trace the trajectory of the African diaspora’s significant struggle and bear witness to repeated violations of life in contested territories, through interwoven accounts of the lived experiences of racialized women: survivors in Cali, an urban area of ​​the Global South. I emphasize the task of lovingly contributing to deliberative spaces focused on how to manage the transformations needed to chart paths toward peaceful coexistence. ↩︎
13. On August 7, 2026, the electoral fraud in Colombia is consummated, and we find ourselves in “the worst of all worlds”: the—illegitimate—president-elect assumes office; a scenario that, had institutions served the citizenry, we could have foreseen.
    
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14. The newly inaugurated national government in Colombia recognizes Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara and also acknowledges the Syrian Golan Heights as Israeli territory. Furthermore, at the most critical moment following the earthquake, the central government announced the arrival of “rescuers” from nations allied with it in its “anti-terrorist” crusade. ↩︎
15.  From the perspective of the “re-existences” of peoples engaged in historical struggles—in another region of the Global South—the text titled “Youth Revolts and the Politics of Possibility: From Anger and Resistance to Imagining Alternative Futures” is essential. As its author, Ashish Kothari, points out, this article is of particular interest because it analyzes youth protests that have led—or could lead—to drastic political changes (such as those that occurred in Nepal or the recent, innovative initiative of the Cockroach Janta Party in India). 
    https://www.meer.com/en/109007-youth-revolts-and-the-politics-of-possibility
    
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