On April 28, 2021,
a national strike began in Colombia
against the tax reform that,
in the midst of the pandemic, aims to make the lives
of thousands of Colombians even more precarious.
As in other Latin American countries,
the struggle in the streets expresses much more a desire
for an end to the colonial capitalist system
than demands for specific reforms.
The statue of the genocidal colonizer Sebastian Belalcázar
was destroyed by the Mizak people in the city of Cali.
Blockades were erected on the major highways
that connect regions with a strong agrarian economy.
And indigenous caravans were organized,
heading to the cities to join the struggle in the streets.
The State's response to the mobilization of the Colombian people
is the politics of extermination.
The same as we saw in Chile during the uprising of 2019.
In less than a week,
more than 30 people were murdered by the police.
There are hundreds of people missing,
thousands injured, and many others incarcerated.
Torture and rape cases
have also been reported during arrests.
In the Jacarézinho favela in Rio de Janeiro,
on May 6, 2021,
the Civil Police operation "Exceptis"
murdered at least 28 people.
A true massacre against black and poor youth.
Videos recorded by the community
show people unarmed being executed.
The pandemic of the new coronavirus
has become the perfect excuse to militarize the streets,
to control our bodies and instill fear in our hearts.
In Colombia, at least 125 murders
of social, community and indigenous leaders were registered
during the pandemic alone.
In Brazil, the police continue murdering children, young people
and black and poor women in poor communities,
under the pretext of fighting crime,
the State being the only terrorist.
States, in conjunction with capitalists,
have systematically carried out massacres
to establish their dominance.
The nation-states in Latin America
have been built upon the genocide of indigenous peoples
and the plundering of their territories.
Death continues to be a state policy.
In Colombia, Brazil,
and all over Latin America,
the armed forces occupy the streets, the countryside,
the communities, and our territories.
They want us to get used to live in fear of being killed
and to renounce our utopias.
At the same time that they kill us
with bullets and viruses,
they push forward the culture of pacifism.
Nonviolence is a weapon of immobilization and social pacification
that protects the genocidal State,
ensuring the perpetuation of social inequalities.
How can we remain peaceful when faced with the murders of our brothers?
When faced with the dispossession of our land?
How can we remain peaceful knowing that torturers in uniform
rape our sisters?
Self-defense and solidarity among struggling peoples
is the path to autonomous lives.
The worst virus is resignation.
The worst virus is the genocidal state.
The worst virus is capitalism.
With blood in our memory and fire in our hearts
we must defeat them.