Welcome to the Empire Files podcast. This is Abby Martin here with Mike Prysner.

Since April 28th, mass protests have rocked Colombia in demonstrations against IMF austerity measures.

The Colombian government responded by deploying the military

to the streets and began carrying out mass killings and disappearances of unarmed demonstrators.

It's yet another example of Washington's human rights hypocrisy. Columbia is the United States' top

ally south of the equator. Columbia is even known as the Israel of Latin America.

A fitting nickname given it's the top recipient of U.S. military equipment and funding on the continent.

So the bullets killing the protesters are delivered to Colombia by Washington.

In today's episode, we'll be speaking with a student activist leader from Cali, the city with the biggest protests, and in turn facing the bloodiest repression.

This is why we hope you become or remain a patron.

Whenever there are major developments in U.S. foreign affairs, we will be here to provide a quick and accessible analysis to give you all the details you need to know about what's going on.

Just last week, we discussed the unfolding crisis in Sheikh Jara by the Israeli state,

and now simultaneously another proxy of the U.S. Empire is committing major war crimes.

Also, be sure to visit our YouTube channel for several episodes we made a couple years ago when we traveled to Colombia to document the murder of social leaders and the government massacre of peasants in the countryside.

After this interview, Mike and I will discuss those really wild, firsthand experiences and how it all fits into the bigger picture.

But first, we're very excited to speak to Pablo Morales,

a lead student organizer with the Colombian Students' organization.

If you check social media, some big corp media here in Colombia,

you will know that more than 600 municipalities or cities, if you prefer,

were mobilized on the occasion of April 28th strike date, you know, was like a week ago.

This is more than a half of the counties and cities in Colombia.

Wow.

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