Colombia in the Eye of “El Tigre”On Monday, June 8, I received terrible news from my friend Rosa, a youth activist and the founder of three community gardens in the impoverished neighborhoods of northern Bogotá. Thugs had destroyed one of their spaces, the Pollinators’ Garden in Suba. Emboldened angry men with machetes, shovels, and axes chopped down tomate de árbol and avocado trees, multiplying banana fronds and fruit, lavender, rue, kale, oregano, basil, and many other vegetables and herbs. I wept when I saw photos of the dry brown earth where once I had walked with her and her friends through the overflowing, tangled green. “They weren’t afraid of anything,” said Rosa (whose name has been changed for anonymity). “They did it in broad daylight.” I commiserated. “It’s as if their guy has already won,” she added. Colombia’s second round of elections this Sunday will steer the country into one world or another: a feast of hatred, exclusion, violence, or a continuation of an imperfect progressive experiment. After the first round, on May 31, Senator Iván Cepeda of the leftist Pacto Histórico had 9.64 million votes, and lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella, a newcomer to politics with neofascist aesthetics, unexpectedly pulled ahead, with 10.31 million votes. The candidate in third place, Paloma Valencia, a traditional conservative originally favored by former right-wing President Álvaro Uribe, was eliminated.
https://jacobin.com/2026/06/colombia-election-cepeda-abriella-trump Resignation letter of top Party for Socialism and Liberation cadre Walter Smolarek I have been a member of this organization for 17 years, more than half of my life. When I first joined, I used to sneak out of my parents' house to attend Party meetings and had to open a P.O. box to receive Party literature. I spent years building Party branches in various cities — Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Asheville, Baltimore, Louisville, Lexington and elsewhere. I was elected to the Central Committee three times, and before that was an observer present at every CC meeting for seven years. I worked for over four years on the Loud & Clear podcast alongside Brian Becker, then later on The Socialist Program. When the National Communications Department was established in 2022, I was made its director, and I have
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