Live
Audio Only
Gaitan is the daughter of assassinated Colombian leader Jorge Eliecer Gaitan.
Gloria Gaitan was 11 years old when her father, Liberal Party leader Jorge Eliecer Gaitan, was gunned down in central Bogota during his presidential campaign in 1948. Gaitan spoke out against the power of the wealthy elite and condemned state violence against workers, marginalized communities and progressive political movements. Gloria followed in her father's footsteps, championing the rights of the poor. Below is a letter she wrote to her Ecuadorean counterparts warning of the dangers of a right-wing victory in the upcoming presidential elections.
My Fellow Ecuadoreans,
We no longer figure on maps as one country — Colombia and Ecuador — but we are in history and destiny. I see with horror, with panic, that several of my Ecuadorean friends or those who live in Ecuador — honest fighters — are focusing their energy against (President Rafael) Correa, leaving aside the danger that awaits us with the possible triumph of (Guillermo) Lasso, to create the triangle of Macri-Temer-Lasso that will inevitably open the way to the most reactionary interests of our times.
RELATED:
Colombian Paramilitaries Kill Another Indigenous Leader
From a distance, I have several criticisms of Correa, but as for Lenin's (Moreno) triumph — one thing is one thing and another is another — we will not see Ecuador rejecting Unasur, nor allying with the Secretary General of the OAS to exterminate Venezuela and hand it over to the reactionaries. We will not see Lenin playing into (Colombian President Manuel) Santos' hands in the dialogues with the ELN, whose purpose is to demobilize the guerrillas in order to leave social fighters defenseless, as has been happening in the areas where the FARC has demobilized.
That Correa did not make a profound anti-capitalist economic revolution, surely it is so, as honest and logical people say. But surely Lasso is not going to permit an opening to the socialist revolution demanded by Correa's adversaries.
I remember when I lived in Chile during the times of the government of Salvador Allende. The Socialist Party delegated me the political secretary of the Workers' Committee of the Odeplan (the economic planning office), and in those endless political meetings, the MIR (the Revolutionary Left Movement) stated that a military coup would be better so that the people would react instead of a government like Allende's which would serve as morphine to lull "the revolutionary force of the masses."
Do Pachakutik, the Conaie, and so many others believe that Lasso's savage capitalist regime will lead Ecuador to a popular uprising? They are wrong. They can criticize Correa all they want, but if a strong popular movement has not been forged during his government, it is the fault of those who are responsible for forging it. In that, we have to be aware and do a self-analysis. If Colombia is dominated by the right wing, it is because we, those of us who sincerely believe we are leftists, have been incapable, and other so-called leftists have been opportunists and personally ambitious. The fault does not lie only with the right.
It is easy to put all the blame on the adversary that certainly bears a lot of the guilt. But we should not see the speck in another's eye and ignore the one in our own.
I do not apologize for meddling in Ecuador's affairs. Ecuador is part of my great homeland. I recognize that I do not master the political and economic situation in Ecuador, but I do know that Ecuador in the hands of Lasso will be karma for my fellow Ecuadoreans and one more spear in the heart of our poor martyred Colombia.
With affection and solidarity,
Gloria Gaitan
March 22, 2017
Newsletter
