Colombia remains one of the most dangerous countries on earth, where more than 220,000 have been killed and countless displaced over the last 57 years. The human rights abuses in the country are regularly dismissed by the corporate media, which ignores the heavy hand of US Empire.

The US began heavily pushing military intervention in Colombia under the Kennedy administration, whose National Security Doctrine aimed to wipe out all populist movements in Latin America through the backing of right wing death squads.

FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia), the Marxist-Leninist rebel group, is branded a terrorist group by the US, yet is trying to initiate a peace process. The US prevents this from happening, and continues to use the rebel group as an excuse to increase its military involvement. The so-called Drug War is just another arm of the ongoing violence on the ground.

The role of the US military in Colombia is intense. According to the former US Ambassador to Colombia, the US has more involvement in Colombia than anywhere in the world, including Afghanistan. There is also widespread abuse on behalf of the US military throughout the community. Between 2003-2007, US soldiers and contractors sexually abused at least 54 children and could not be tried or extradited due to immunity clauses between the two countries.

All this aside, Colombia remains the invisible country in the invisible war, shunned by the world. Abby and Robbie Martin are joined by Dan Kovalik, human and labor rights lawyer, on Media Roots Radio to discuss Colombia’s current war and the far-reaching effects of US interventionism over the past half century. 

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This Media Roots podcast is the product of many long hours of hard work and love. If you want to encourage our voice, please consider supporting us as we continue to speak from outside party lines. Even the smallest donations help us with operating costs.

Listen to all previous episodes of Media Roots Radio here.

Follow @FluorescentGrey | @AbbyMartin | @DanielMKovalik

LUIS ROBAYO/AFP/Getty Images

American exceptionalism is the bedrock of US expansion—casting a shadow across much of the world in the form of hyper-militarism and political interventionism. The US, as a global superpower, has drenched the globe in military bases and worked tirelessly to undermine native resistance by way of massacres, occupation, coups, and sanctions.

The United States has long been able to disguise occupation of foreign territories, and the pillaging of their resources, under the pretense of humanitarianism, all while at the same time bolstering horrifically abusive and repressive regimes in the regions it occupies. The establishment media has been able to camouflage colonial rhetoric by creating a more subdued, less threatening narrative so as to hide the true nature of warfare and to in turn fabricate a history that erases the Empire’s victims.

As much of the world moves forward in providing social benefits, including health care benefits and expanding education programs, while in turn making cuts to military budgets, the United States spends nearly $600 billion annually on its defense budget. Uncovering the hidden costs, military expenditures make up over 50% of American tax dollars. By institutionalizing the collusion between government and big business a permanent war economy in indisputably maintained, and lobbying for war becomes a necessity for those wishing to turn a quick profit. 

Watch Abby Martin’s inaugural Empire Files episode, where she goes deep inside the rise of history’s largest, ever expanding Empire.

The Rise of History’s Biggest Empire

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FOLLOW // @EmpireFiles and @AbbyMartin

WATCH // YouTube.com/EmpireFiles

Two weeks ago, Obama made a bizarre announcement that Venezuela is an “extraordinary threat” to US national security and that he is “deeply concerned” about its human rights abuses – a declaration necessary to justify a new round of harsh sanctions.

The measure comes on the heels of another round of US sanctions against the Venezuelan government, allegedly for violating protesters rights during demonstrations last year.

In this episode of Media Roots Radio, Abby Martin talks to Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research and president of Just Foreign Policy about the hidden agenda behind this latest move of aggression and why the country really poses a threat to the US establishment.

US vs. Venezeula: Regime Change and Resilience

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In fact, the US has never stopped trying to undermine the Bolivarian Revolution. Eva Golinger, author of the Chavez Code, talks about the Western backed coup happening in real time in the form of paid opposition forces, propaganda and economic warfare.

Why the CIA Won’t Give Up on Venezeula

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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has launched a global signature-gathering campaign to pressure Obama to repeal the sanctions. The letter reads “sanctions, blockades and armed aggressions are no substitute for genuine dialogue.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Abby Martin | @AbbyMartin

Photo by flickr user Dan Brickley

Abby and Robbie Martin discuss the news of the day including a District Court judge forcing torture victims to pay their torturers’ legal fees; Latin American leaders standing up to US imperialism in light of the NSA leaks; the establishment’s use of agitation propaganda to manufacture outrage at other nations while promoting an undercurrent of American exceptionalism.

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Listen to all previous episodes of Media Roots Radio here.