Evil Hour in Columbia by Forrest Hylton Essay

Forrest Hylton in his book Evil Hour in Columbia, describes the historical background of Columbia in the context of the re installation of Alvaro Uribe as the president. He emphasizes how the current government has a nexus with the drug cartel. How the current government uses systematic displacement, murder and terror to further the interest of the drug interest group and capitalists interest. When Alvaro Uribe Velez became the president of Columbia on 7th August, 2002, the outlaws became powerful. Uribe’s father has suddenly found wealth, power and influence in the mid 1970s as a political broker. Uribe Sierra was connected to the influential family that joined the upwardly mobile contrabandists to form the infamous Medellin cartel. When he attended a meeting of the drug cartel at Napoles, he was removed from the post as a mayor of Medellin. When his father died in 1983 and left behind a huge debt Alvaro Uribe took charge. As the governor of Antioquia, between 1995 and 1996, formed close alliances with Pedro Juan Moreno Villa, the main importer of potassium permanganate a chemical important for the manufacture of cocaine. Forrest Hylton explores the conflicts that are currently harming Colombian lives, property, communities and region. Hylton shows a sense of hurry, a rush to convey how control, property and power have been appropriated by a few powerful persons who have used the weapons of terror, subjugation and financial depredation to maintain their position. Forrest Hylton systematically builds the case against Alvaro Uribe. He traces Uribe’s record as the governor of Antioquia. He is reputed to have supported the anti-guerilla militias who rendered homeless 200,000 peasants. In the banana export enclaves there was a spate of murders when he became the governor. The author’s plea reaches desperation when Alvaro is elected for the second term on May 28, 2006. The author is hurt by the jubilation of the US state and other allies at the election of Uribe. He feels an urgency to convey his apprehensions to the reader. It seems that Hylton is perturbed by the re election of Uribe because of the negative impact on the society and economy of Colombia. Hylton’s plea is well intentioned. He does not want the social struggles to continue, he does not want a state that supports the narcotic carte, he does not want to support the amalgam of the government and illegal perpetrators or crime nor does he want the exploitation of the majority of the people of Colombia. He is making a plea for an end to the exclusionary social fabric that is supported by the capitalist countries. Â  One of the reasons why Hylton makes a plea is that Colombia is a country where normal forms of confrontation and struggle are difficult. Trade unionism is perilous; in 2006 alone there were 70 deaths of trade unionists. A large number of workers who show opposition are killed. The killings of the worker leaders have been engineered by military and paramilitary forces. Capitalist’s interests are held culpable for dispossessing the Colombians of their land and property (Hylton 35). The modus operandi is to displace people from mining regions and appropriate their property. According to Hylton the effect of this domination on the economy is disastrous. Sixty four percent of the population lives below poverty line. A large proportion of the population cannot afford food, health requirements of the population are not met and employment is scarce. Health care and education is available only to the elite. On the other hand the US government depreciates the Columbian society for having a ‘tendency towards violence’. Hylton feels that such explanations are unjust as neither history supports such explanations nor does the behavior of people in neighboring countries give credence to these claims. The Columbian model Hylton feels has been adapted in Iraq and Afghanistan and may be adapted in different countries that use counter terrorism. Hylton chronicles his account from 1848 when there was popular political system and Colombia was one of the leading Atlantic democracies. He describes in great detail the century and half since then and the downturn from that point and the resistance against the negative forces. His book is a plea for a socially mindful political system, a documentation of the futile attempts to do so and the growth of officially backed narcotics alliance and its ‘paramilitaries’. Hylton is trying to draw the attention of the world on the brutal acts of repressions, the wasting of the Columbian agricultural system and the proliferation of coca for the production of cocaine. To sum, Hylton in his book Evil Hour in Columbia points out the social and economic frustration of Columbia with the election of Uribe. He feels that this will perpetrate a regime that is backed by and controlled by the drug lobby on one hand and the capitalists on the other hand. He points out that Uribe has a despicable past. In the past his government has caused displacement of peasants and murders. His installation as the president causes apprehension that Columbia is doomed to another period of exploitation, deprivation and poverty. Reference: Hylton, Forrest, Evil Hour in Colombia, Verso London and New York, 2006.

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