— BookAuthority

by Julián Esteban Torres López

Prolonged war has drained Colombia of its most essential resources and has created an aggressively vengeful environment of resentment and resistance. Though the second oldest democracy in the hemisphere, an effective modern nation-state has never existed. Its 200+ years of so-called democracy have been a farce given Colombia's feudalist innards and fascist exoskeleton.

Further, the continuing armed conflict is exacerbated by the country’s historical lack of hegemony, corruption, institutionalized violence, socio-political exclusion, lack of social mobility opportunities, and foreign intervention. We must curb the traditional might-makes-right conflict resolution method and the state must gain true legitimacy if Colombians are ever to manifest their potential.

Julián Esteban Torres López machetes through the tall weeds of Colombia's power vacuum and fragmented sovereignty, peels the layers of the country's flirtation with modernity and class consciousness, dissects the insecurity of Colombia's security policies, and looks to understand who and what stand in the way of Colombia becoming the El Dorado it could become.

"Reporting on Colombia: Essays on Colombia’s History, Culture, Peoples, and Armed Conflict by Julián Esteban Torres López is amazing. So informative and well written. I highly recommend it if you’re interested in learning about a nation which US propaganda has vilified for decades, especially in light of recent events [the Great Colombian Uprising of 2021]. Solidarity with all Colombians fighting fascism."

— Philip Elliott

Novelist | Screenwriter | CWC Award for Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing | Shamus Award finalist | Winner of 2022 VHS Screenplay Competition

Excerpts from Reporting on Colombia, read by
Julián Esteban Torres López on The Nasiona Podcast

Colombia’s history is marked with many of its people treated merely as a mean to an end. Laura Yusem and Herbert Braun, respectively, were right in recognizing that “In Latin America, we learn early that our lives are worth little” and that “[i]n the struggle for land, human life in Colombia has been devalued.” Human rights activist Manuel Rozental was correct to paint Colombia’s history with the following pattern: people are massacred or enslaved, displaced, the land is freed, and the élite, foreign powers, and multi-national corporations come in to exploit the land and the labor force. What is going on today, during the Great Colombian Uprising of 2021, is an extension of this history.

On this episode, Julián dissects Colombia's historical lack of hegemony and institutionalized violence to give you 200 years of context (through the early 1990s) of what systemic, structural, institutional, policy, and cultural conditions, along with what actors and situations, have led to the current Great Colombian Uprising, which goes beyond this year’s proposed tax reform.

On this episode, Julián covers the eight years Álvaro Uribe was president of Colombia, from 2002 to 2010, and why he is such a polarizing figure: praised by imperialist and colonial powers and multinational corporations, and scorned by anyone with a heart. Julián provides a thorough overview into the many reasons behind the current Anti-Uribismo movement, and also provides insights into the United States’s love affair with Uribe, along with its role and responsibility in Colombia's militarized state since the turn of the century.