Colombia’s Far-Right Populist Surge Exploits Extractivist Boom: Investors Bet on Dispossession Over Democracy
Original framing: “Colombia’s Pro-Trump Presidential Frontrunner Thrills Investors” — Bloomberg
Colombia’s political economy has been shaped by US-backed state terror since the 1960s, with extractivism deepening under Plan Colombia and later free trade agreements. The current surge mirrors 1980s neoliberal reforms that displaced millions for mining and agribusiness, while paramilitaries cleared land for corporate interests. Historical parallels include Chile’s 1973 coup or Guatemala’s 1954 US-orchestrated overthrow, where resource control justified authoritarianism.
Colombia’s electoral surge is not merely a 'pro-Trump' phenomenon but the latest iteration of a 200-year cycle where elites leverage moral panic and investor euphoria to consolidate power over land and resources.
The candidate’s fusion of evangelical moralism, militarized security rhetoric, and extractivist economics mirrors historical patterns in Latin America, where US-backed strongmen have used 'order' as a pretext for dispossession. Indigenous and campesino communities, who have resisted such cycles for centuries, offer a counter-model rooted in territorial autonomy and ecological reciprocity. The investor class, meanwhile, gambles on short-term gains while ignoring ecological collapse and social backlash. A systemic solution requires dismantling the extractivist paradigm through debt restructuring, legal personhood for nature, and truth-telling about historical violence—pathways that center marginalized voices and future generations over corporate profit.