In the aftermath of the election, CPT Colombia has been meeting with the community of El Guayabo to assess what the result means for them and the risks that lie ahead.
With the election of far-right Abelardo de la Espriella – a man who vows to smash his opponents, put them in mega-prisons, and hand the economy over to extractive industry – the people of El Guayabo have suffered a major setback. Their fight has so far been long and exhausting. It just became much longer.
Moments like these are happening more often around the world. Just last year, Trump’s wave of Executive Orders showed how quickly the ground can shift beneath our feet. It reminded me of the frantic emergency meetings we had seven years ago in Greece, after the election of a “centre-right” party with historic roots in racism and fascism. They were determined to rip up the limited support structures that existed for migrants. Every day something was dismantled and replaced with something more hostile. The pace was overwhelming. Once again our team in Lesvos braces itself as not just Greece but all of Europe tightens migration policy further under rising far-right pressure.
This is what communities like El Guayabo are facing now: the need to defend hard-won gains while continuing to fight for the future. The consequences will be felt by generations that haven’t even been born.
The same struggle for the future is taking place in Grassy Narrows. In the 1970s, the Dryden Mill dumped mercury into the river, leaving the Indigenous community living there with long-term health problems. Their long campaign for accountability has become a defensive one, as the community resists plans to dump nuclear waste on their lands.
This week, in The Longer View, we share a reflection on a recent march with the community of Grassy Narrows against the environmental racism that threatens their lands. They demonstrate “a kind of commitment that spans across decades, a kind of solidarity that has future generations in mind.”
Meanwhile, in Colombia, despite their exhaustion, El Guayabo still holds on to hope. CPT Colombia reminds us that while nobody should have to spend a lifetime fighting for what should be a guaranteed right, the capacity to adapt and regroup has become part of the community’s collective memory. That capacity is what keeps hope alive.
