VISIBILIDADES (EN)

 Closing this week with many unfinished thoughts, pauses here and there, because although this year has been marked by the sheer arrogance of imperial power—breaking even the rules that everyone else is expected to follow—whenever we think it can no longer surprise us, reality proves that it can always get worse.

This week was marked by several major events: the declaration of a state of emergency in Bolivia, which forced social mobilizations into a temporary pause; the devastating earthquakes in the homeland of Chávez and Bolívar and the catastrophic consequences they have left behind; and Colombia's presidential runoff, which turned a long-feared outcome into reality.

Each of these events deserves careful attention, and I do not begin with Colombia because it is more urgent or more important. Rather, I believe it is the country that carried on its shoulders the hopes of a frustrated Latin America, watching one nation after another fall into the hands of the far right through electoral processes that follow a pattern too consistent to be dismissed as mere coincidence.

The transition from left-wing governments to right-wing—and often far-right—ones has, in almost every case except Honduras, been decided in runoff elections. The parties declared victorious have all, without exception, enjoyed unwavering Zionist support and have defied every prediction. Even right-leaning polling companies projected results very different from those ultimately announced.

In all these cases—Ecuador, Peru and Colombia, while Bolivia followed a different process—irregularities and alleged electoral fraud have been reported and denounced. In Peru and Colombia, moreover, the margins of victory were razor-thin. Taken together, these recurring patterns cast serious doubt on the transparency that should define any democratic process.

What happened in Colombia, therefore, is far from an isolated case. Yet Colombia bore the weight of South America's remaining hope, as the last country in the region that still seemed capable of escaping the grasp of those monstrous tentacles from the North and their allies.

It fell just short. But I want to say to that country and to its people—who have endured unspeakable suffering under despotic governments that ignored the meaning of peace, the value of human life, and the lessons of their own history—that they once placed their trust in change. They entrusted it to a leader who, despite limitations, threats and relentless smear campaigns, stood firm against the world's dominant hegemony, defending not only the dignity of his own people but also that of peoples suffering under the Zionist government, recognizing the State of Palestine when so few dared to do so, denouncing the State of Israel as criminal and illegal, and above all turning his words into action.

As Colombians once again decided their future at the ballot box, left-wing voices across social media filled with warnings before the vote and reproaches afterward. Yet few acknowledge that a margin of less than one percent erased the achievements of the previous administration through the same dirty tactics, in which manipulated undecided voters ultimately handed victory to political amnesia.

Even so, those who voted for Iván Cepeda—nearly half of the population of South America's second most populous country, almost twice the entire population of Bolivia—did so consciously and with conviction. To overcome that determination, the right had to resort to dirty tricks backed by its international allies, long experienced in such practices. Even then, that nearly half of the country took to the streets to defend its vote with dignity, because that vote represented commitment.

If victory was taken from them, it is because a modernized version of Operation Condor still looms over our continent. But that does not mean the outcome is final. That steadfast half of the Colombian people has shown that the Historic Pact remains an indelible force, an irreversible political project that no electoral setback can erase from the people's conscience. Its cause remains alive, its hope intact, and its return is only a matter of time. The day will come when it becomes reality again, because convictions cannot be defeated by manipulation or fraud. Until then, without lowering our guard, with our heads held high and our fists raised.

¡Hasta la victoria siempre!