The denunciations in his writings are among the few windows to make the situation in Colombia visible, both for the Colombian people themselves, and the international community.

Alfredo Molano analyzed the recent controversy around diversion of funds of the governmental program “Agro Ingreso Seguro” (AIS), financed by the Inter American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), and stated that this is a “plutocrat program which benefits the accumulation of profit by the rich”.

“In spite of the fact that laws to facilitate the agrarian reform were passed, in Colombia there was never a real agrarian reform. Land concentration is increasing at outrageous levels”, highlighted the activist, who was born in the Colombian countryside.

In just one decade (from 1990 to 2000), while many were discussing the features the Agrarian Reform should have, “drug dealers were appropriating five million hectares, and this figure continues to rise”, said Molano, to whom this concentration of land and displacement is the basis for violence in Colombia.

This way, the AIS funds, which were originally destined to social aid for rural workers, have ended up in subsidies for big land owners who are also behind the campaign for the continuation of Alvaro Uribe in power.

A key element of this has been the financing of paramilitarism, which is claimed to be dismantled, although this does not coincide with the serious situation suffered by Colombian communities.

Environmental damage: Judge and Jury

Alfredo Molano also talked about the new micro and mega projects which through agribusiness, agrofuels, mining, “eco-tourism” or extraction of hydrocarbon threaten the natural resources of the Latin American country and its rural communities.

Its logics are as clear as outrageous: if a hydroelectric company decides to settle in the country, it is this company which carries out the environmental impact assessment, and the one to draft the conditions to obtain a license, thus substituting the sovereignty of Colombia with its thirst for profit, said Alfredo Molano.

Another element of concern is the private appropriation of natural beaches by tourism and “eco-tourism” consortiums, a new plutocrat way of taking over territories.

Alfredo Molano also made reference to the foreign military bases present in Colombia. “These bases are targeting Venezuela in the first place, and also the Amazon. We would like to thank our Latin American brothers and sisters for the solidarity they have shown to our struggle against these shameful bases”, Molano concluded.

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